Mian.-. 



I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ,l\ 

UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. fl 



I "W'flM |o. 





pa/AW Mu, 




The True Path; 

OR, THE 

Murphy Movement 

AND 

GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 

A Complete History of the Rise, Progress and Wonderful 

Effects of the Great Reformatory Wave 

now Deluging our Land; 

TOGETHER WITH THE 

Biography, Addresses, Incidents and Anecdotes of 
FRANCIS MURPHY, 

THE GREAT TEMPERANCE APOSTLE. 

The Most Telling Speeches and Appeals of Prominent 

Leaders and Helpers in Various Parts, with the 

Intensely Interesting Experiences of the Most 

Remarkable of the Reformed Men. 

By Rev. J. Saml. Vandersloot, 

Author of "Comprehensive Bible Encyclopedia;" "Explanatory Bible 
Dictionary;" " Bible History and Analysis;" "Book of Bib- 
lical Antiquities;" "New and Improved Dictionary of 
Bible Names;" Etc., Etc., Etc. 



♦ 



'"O send out thy light and thy truth : let them lead me." — Ps. xliii. 3. 
" I have chosen the way of truth." — Ps. cxixygc^V^ 






PUBLISHED BY \. > 

WILLIAM FLINT, PHILADELPHIA. 

HABER BROTHERS, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 

H. H. NATT, ST. LOUIS, MO. 

1877. 






Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1877, by 

J. SAML. VANDERSLOOT, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



CYRUS STURDIVANT, 

THE MODEST 

Hero and Christian Reformer, 

WHOSE WORTH AND SACRIFICES — THOUGH ALMOST LOST SIGHT OF IN THE 

,MAGNITUDE OF THE PRESENT STRUGGLE — HAVE 

BROUGHT, UNDER GOD, 

FRANCIS MURPHY 

FROM THE POWER OF RUM TO TEMPERANCE, 

AND OF 

SIN TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, 

THIS "WORK IS DEDICATED, 

AS AN ACT OF JUSTICE AND KINDLY ACKNOWLEDGMENT, 

BY THE AUTHOR. 







^S 




PREFACE. 



Great movements have their literature. It has in- 
variably been so. And it would be strange if, in our 
civilization, the Murphy Temperance Keform should 
prove ah exception. It is not enough that books 
should be published in support of the holy cause. 
The popular mind will not rest here. Its special and 
wonderful achievements must be recorded. The needed 
truths must be heralded and preserved. 

In deference to these reflections this book is sent 
forth. It has only been prepared, however, in the 
spirit that should be dominant in every work of life — 
that of doing good. We have had nothing narrower 
to inspire us. The thought that what Francis Murphy 
has done, in particular places, both of himself and 
through his followers, might not be ineffectual in its 
saving influence among the quiet villages and humble 
homes throughout our beloved borders, has nerved the 
writer to his task along many weary hours before 
daylight and after nightfall. For, let it be remembered, 
that " The True Path " was written, ar^inged and 
completed inside the remarkably short period of thirty 



4 PBEPAOE. 

After considering this last statement, it will sur- 
prise us if errors and defects do not appear. And it 
will further surprise us if the clear-headed critics and 
reviewers, at any time, exceed the proper bounds of a 
commensurate charity in pointing out our shortcomings. 

We have had something of difficulty, and expended 
somewhat of our limited time and means, in obtaining 
the necessary information. Letters have been written 
to, and papers received from, various parts, that all 
the facts of our subject might appear. And not a few 
gentlemen, who have been most intimate with Mr. 
'Murphy, and other leaders in the recent moral conflict, 
have favored us to the extent of their ability ; but the 
success we have attained is mainly due to the assiduous 
aid of our publisher, and the persistent labors and 
sacrifices we have confronted. To all we freely make 
obeisance. 

In the writing out of Part I., entitled " The Subject as 
Presented To-day," we did not yet have in our posses- 
sion the required events for the biography following 
it. On this account we were urged to consider intro- 
ductorily such incidental, and more or less important 
matters, as " Mr. Murphy's Influence," " His Success," 
" His Difficulties," etc. We assented, to some extent, 
under the protest of our calm judgment. Nevertheless, 
as our sole aim is to confer, in our weak way, blessings 
on our fellow-man, we are willing to fall under any 
merited condemnation. There are those who may 



PREFACE. 5 

meekly arch their brows and say they " could have 
done better." Very likely they could. But let them 
be harnessed up, for one month, under a like burden, 
and try. 

Many facts furnished in this volume have been gath- 
ered from Mr. Murphy's lips, by a reporter specially 
employed, and have never heretofore found their way 
into print. They have also, in different instances, been 
properly clothed by ourselves, in such a way as not to 
mislead — either by undue exaltation or any attempt at 
their abasement. Thus they are peculiar, and indi- 
vidual property. The speeches we present have been, 
in cases, solely procured through personal pains- 
taking and expense. They can be found nowhere else. 

Not a few of the reformed men, being familiar with 
Mr. Murphy's reticence upon things relating to his 
career, have, in looking over some of the advance sheets, 
been amazed at the fulness and evident completeness 
of our history of the Apostle's life. They have conce- 
ded that it gives every indication of a connected narra- 
tion of all the circumstances most important to the 
general reader. And such we believe to be the fact. 
Certainly we have done all that Mr. Murphy can or 
will look for, everything considered. We have at- 
tempted, at every turn, to hold up the hands of the 
prophet ; and, although not a famous Aaron, we have 
assumed the role of an unpretending Hur. 

Our mind has been no little encouraged by the report 



6 PREFACE. 

that not a few of Mr. Murphy's friends have ordered 
many copies of the work, and that they are unreserved in 
their avowed purpose to regard it as a vade mecum in 
this gigantic campaign. 

Finally, we have not written for compensation. This 
concerns only one — a grain in the desert of life — a drop 
in the ocean of time. But we have fitted up what we 
would modestly regard as a " little labor of love." Had 
our spiritual desires and advantages not appeared, we 
would never have begun it. We have looked out upon 
the hundreds of thousands going along in the deep 
current of sin to the yawning and seething cataract of 
destruction, aod we have thrown out this life-line to 
them — not without many anxious prayers and tears — 
in the hope that some, yea, many, might grasp it and 
be saved. And we have lifted up our eyes and heart 
"unto the hills, from whence cometh our help," and 
seen the golden wreaths of eternal royalty waving above 
them ; and have heard the words, so prophetically scin- 
tillating through the swift rolling centuries, " They that 
be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament : 
and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars 
forever and ever." J. Saml. Y. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PART I. 
THE SUBJECT AS PRESENTED TO-DAY. 



CHAPTER I. page 

Mr. Murphy's Influence. — His Success. — Leading Characteristics, 13 

CHAPTER II. 

Mr. Murphy's Difficulties. — Influences Against Him. — A Warning, 21 

CHAPTER III. 

Previous Temperance Movements. — Different Opinions Current. 

—At the Roots, . . . .30 

CHAPTER IV. 

Gospel Temperance. — Opposition of Christians. — The Term as 
Used by Mr. Murphy. — Example and Teaching of Christ. — 
Christ's Wine not Intoxicating. — Mr. Murphy Consistent. — 
Necessity for Gospel Temperance, 41 



PART II. 
THE BIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS MURPHY. 



CHAPTER V. 

Mr. Murphy's Early Life. — His Parents' Religion. — Struggles 

, with Poverty.— Peculiar Hospitality.— Youngsters Huddled 

into the Kitchen. — Wrong Treatment.— - Irish Custom of 

using Liquor. — Appetite for liquor First Formed. — A Way 

that is not the "True Path." — Limited Educational Advan- 



CONTENTS. 



tages. — A "Piggy-back" Flogging. — Outrageously Dealt 
with. — Effect of Unkindness and Injustice. — " An Act most 
Difficult to Forgive." — Longing for a Freer Air. — An Im- 
movable Purpose. — Employed at a Castle. — A Difficult Task, 53 

CHAPTER VI. 

Coming to America. — The Decision. — A Self-sacrificing Woman. 
— Circumstances of the Event. — Last Week in Ireland. — The 
Last Night. — The Mother's Blessing. — The Separation. — 
The Voyage, ......... 68 

CHAPTER VII. 

On the Sea and in the New World. — Drinking and Treating. — 
Turned out Upon the World. — Everything Gone. — A Situa- 
tion Secured. — Off to Canada. — At Farm Work. — Gets Mar- 
ried. — A Christian Wife. — Arrival of a Brother, . . -78 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Removed to Portland. — A New Business. — His Wife Opposed to 
it. — Acting Alone. — Bradley House Rented. — Will Sell 
Liquor " Respectably."— Promised Her not to Drink. — At 
Home in the Hotel. — A Genuine Convert. — Business Suc- 
cessful. — A Wreck at Last. — Manner of his Ruin. — A Man's 
Neck Broken. — Continuous Dissipation, . . . .86 

CHAPTER IX. 

The arm of the Law to be Invoked . — Everything Lost, and With- 
out a Friend. — Arrested.— A. Confiding Man.- — Thrust into 
Jail. — Deserted. — An Erroneous Opinion. — A Faulty Sys- 
tem. — Wrong in Practice.- -Must go the Fountain Head. — 
Auxiliaries. — A Suffering Family, ..... 95 

CHAPTER X. 

Captain Cyrus Sturdivant. — Religious Services in the Jail. — Mr. 
Murphy Attends the Meeting. — A True Friend. — Valuable 
Men.— There is Hope for You. — Power of Kindness. — 
Little Things. — Noble Feelings. — " God Bless You!" . . 106 

CHAPTER XL 

A Week of Suffering. — The Words Put into his Mouth. — Influ- 
ences of the Spirit Essential. — Plan to be Adhered to. — A 
Notable Day. — Great Religious Meeting in Jail. — Espied his 
Wife. — A Bouquet and a Fond Meeting. — Sought Out by a 
Loving Company, . . . . . . . . 1 1 5 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. page 

Prayer-meeting in the Dark Dungeon. — Mr. Murphy's Conver- 
sion. — The New Birth. — A Subject Worthy Attention. — 
Loose Religion. — Days of Miracles. — A Transformation. — 
Light Hearts. — Kept in Prison.— Asks to Conduct a Prayer- 
meeting. — Seventy -five Prisoners Converted. — Divine Na- 
ture of the Work, 124 

CHAPTER XIII. 

His Imprisonment a School. — No Help for His Wife. — Denied 
Herself Bread. — No Meals that Day. — Mrs. Murphy's Sad 
Letter. — A Bitter Night. — Released. — A Complete Wreck. — 
The Meeting. — An Earnest Prayer. — Erects a Family Altar. — 
Fruit and Garments Brought. — New Duties and Trials. — Mrs. 
Murphy's Death. — A Sad Family. — The Most Important of 
Events. — Cannot but Work. — A Complete Preparation for it, 133 

CHAPTER XIV. 

First Appearance as a Lecturer. — Surprised at the Result. — His 
Influence Extending. — Rallies the People at Freeport — A 
Sanguinary Struggle. — Dio Lewis Astonished. — Arranges to 
Go to Pittsburg. — Discouraged. — An Unexampled Success. — 
Prominent Circumstances. — Incidents, ..... 144 

CHAPTER XV. 

Mr. Murphy's Services Secured for Philadelphia. — Philanthropists 
Take Hold. — Wonderful Success in a Short Time. — Means 
of Spreading the Cause. — Frauds. — Movement Free from 
Bad Men. — No Exaggeration. — At Once Convinced. — No 
Abuse. — A Labor of Love. — But One Inspiration. — No 
Prejudices, . . . . . . . . . . 154 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Facts About a Sunday Breakfast. — Capt. Sturdivant Present. — 
What a Group Thought. — Stopped by a Young Lady. — How 
the Thing Works. — In the Breakfast Room. — Could'nt Re- 
sist. — The Worship. — Pleasant Things. — All Happy. — A 
Tippler's Rebellion. — Murphy, the True Leader. — The 
Leaven of Religion. — How it Used to be. — How the Change 
Began. — The Result. — A Slight Instrument. — The Reports 
from All Parts, 161 



10 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVII. page 

Ribbon-wearing. — Different Colors. — The Red Ribbon Pledge. — 
Good Purposes. — The Struggle. — Murphy, the Leader. — All 
are Murphy's Followers. — People Demanding to Sign. — 
Firebrands. — " Do They Stick," 171 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Mr. Murphy's Compensation. — Urged to Lecture. — Consents, but 
Cancels Engagements. — A Pauper. — Making a Mistake. — A 
Fact not Understood. — Strictures. — The Laborer Worthy. — 
Could Earn More in Other Directions. — Mr. Murphy's Words 
Substantiated, . . . . . . . . .176 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Mr. Murphy's Children. — The Lecturer Himself. — When Before 
an Audience — A Superior Character. — " Bother their Blar- 
ney." — Is not Unsocial. — "That Hat." — It Rambles About. — 
Mr. Murphy not Artificially Reserved. — Scrupulously Tidy, . 182 



PART III. 
INTERESTING ADDRESSES AND EXTRACTS. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Speech of Mr. Murphy at Columbus, . . . . . .189 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Selections from Mr, Murphy's Speeches, 216 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Remarks by Capt. Sturdivant. — Speech of Capt. W. B. Claney. — 

Speech of Alderman Harry B. Smithson, .... 228 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Address of John King. — Speech of Gen. Joe Geiger. — Speech and 
Song of Elijah Delaney. — Remarks of Thomas O'Neil. — 
Extract from Speech of Thos. H. Leabourn. — An Important 
Departure, 246 



CONTENTS. 11 



CHAPTER XXIV. page 

Sketch of Miss Francis E. Willard. — Address of Miss Willard. — 
Closing of a Speech by Miss Willard. — Remarks of Miss 
Willard at Boston. — Extracts from Speeches of Miss 
Willard, 260 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Important Extracts from Speeches by Col. Drew, D. L. Moody, 
Samuel P. Godwin, William Moran, and Extract from an 
Address by Bishop W. B. Stevens, 282 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

A Famous Lecturer Heard from. — John B. Gough's Latest Gos- 
pel Temperance Lecture, . . . . . . . 297 



PART IV. 



IMPORTANT FACTS, INCIDENTS AND EXPERI- 
ENCES OF REFORMED MEN. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Storming the Devil's Den. — Frank Murphy in Ramcat Alley. — 
Marriage. — Among the Barrel Houses. — Dispatch. — Flowers. 
— Mr. John L. Linton. — "The Floggers Flogged." — Results 
of the Murphy Movement. — "The Hardest Drinker." — 
" Mr. Murphy's Pocket-book Converted."- — " Success by the 
Law of Love.'* — Murphy and the "Fire-sharps." — "Re- 
formers Recognized." — "A Mother's Love." — " Slow Pro- 
gress." • . . 323 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A Charitable Gift. — How an Irishman Quit Selling Liquor. — 
"Rum Killed Them."— "The Right About Face."— 
"Going to Satan's Domains." — How the Women were 
" Started." — " Then Shake !"— " I'm Unraveling !" — " Won 
and Saved." — "I Made Him what He was." — Rum-mad- 
ness, . f-336 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

" What Rum will Do." — Thrilling Story. — A True Irishman. — 
"A Cripple for Life." — " From the Top of the Ladder to 
the Foot."—" Caught in a Murphy Net," .... 348 



12 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXX. page 

The Way to Master the Appetite — "Wouldn't Return to it for 
$100 Per Day." — A Pathetic Story.— "Out of Six, the Only 
One." — A Wonderful Deliverance, 358 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

"Boys Kidnapped" by Intemperance. — " Drank up a Barrel of 
Money." — The Only Sure Help. — Ran the Gauntlet of the 
Rum Shops in Chicago. — " Four Times in Prison." — " God 
did All for Him." — That Undertow of Temperance. — " Pre- 
paration to Commit Suicide." — "Thirty Years of Intemper- 
ance." — " Money Brokers Used to Get All my Clothes." — 
" From Forty to Fifty Glasses of Liquor a Day." — " One of 
the Worst of Drinking Men." — "Twenty-five Years" of 
Slavery, . 367 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Down to " Bummer-poison." — " Tho Only True Pledge." — " Not 
too Much Religion." — "A Drug Store Tippler." — "Sold 
$16,000 Worth in One Day." — Promising Before an Audi- 
ence. — "A Professional Pledge-taker." — "Came Two Hun- 
dred Miles to be Redeemed." — "Saved Through a Wife's 
Prayers. — " Beaten by One Glass of Whiskey." — " Cost Him 
$100.000." — "Rather Have the Red in His Button-hole."— 
"A Dollar in His Pocket."—" A Richer Man." — "Gash in 
tee Bank."— The Prayer of Faith. — "The Happiest Two 
Months." — " Far Happier than for Fourteen Years." — 
" Pleaded at the Bar," ....... 379 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Dr. Henry A. Reynolds. — Biographical Facts, .... 387 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Alcohol has no Medicinal Value. — Physicians Trained to the De- 
lusion. — What Distinguished Men Say. — The Medical Fra- 
ternity not Innocent. — How to Succeed more Speedily. — Two 
more Witnesses, ......... 396 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Alcohol in the Light of Science — " Is it Strange?" — What Lamb 
Said of It — An Appeal. — Closing Words to the Reformed 
Men, 404 



THE TRUE PATH; 

OR, THE 

MURPHY MOVEMENT 

AND G-OSPEL TEMPERANCE. 



PART I.-THE SUBJECT AS PRESENTED TO-DAY. 



CHAPTER I. 

MR. MURPHY'S INFLUENCE. 

Francis Murphy is a surprise. Within a com- 
paratively short time he has astonished the whole 
country. He has effectually gained the popular ear, 
and almost as readily won its heart. Certainly, his 
success is unequalled in . the annals of reform. No 
other man has risen so high as a public benefactor, 
and a real friend of the most degraded and wretched 
among men. 

Thus, already, his influence is wonderful. It is of 
a most commanding character. Not only do lead- 
ing men, among ministers, merchants and others — 
of both great mental culture, and wealth — subscribe 
2 (13) 



14 THE TRUE PATH. 

to his plans and conform to all his most reasonable 
wishes ; but his influence extends to every grade 
and character of our people. It brings thousands 
of eager and devoted disciples to his feet. It goes 
beyond the bold and impertinent stare of the public 
eye, and enters into the privacy and sanctity of the 
most humble homes. It finds firm anchorage in the 
shadow-land of family trials, and carries with it the 
needful balm that issues only from Divine Truth and 
its association with human effort. It rests compla- 
cently in chambers where once sadness, fear and 
squalid misery held carnival. It establishes the true 
human helper and friend — though but a pliant in- 
strument in the Omnipotent hand — in the hearts of 
countless thousands of innocent and dependent ones, 
far outnumbering the fathers, husbands and bro- 
thers redeemed. 

The reason for all this is plain. It is in the fact 
that through his remarkable exertions there has 
been lifted from priceless souls the suffering of lives 
more intolerable than any death, and instead thereof 
the unbounded happiness dispensed that only those 
long denied it can fully experience. And it is further 
in the fact that the number of souls so reclaimed and 
freed are known to be legion. 

The speediest and most effective way to the 
interests, sympathies and affections of an intelligent' 
people, is the salvation of its unfortunates. Great 
men have often become so by saving the lives of a 
few hundred or thousand persons. But here is an 
instance of a man, under God, saving thousands 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 15 

upon thousands of lives — both for time and eternity. 
People see and feel this, and are awakened to a 
sense of what is due such an one. 

!Nor is this appreciation limited to the immediate 
fields of Mr. Murphy's labor. His influence is 
almost equally powerful and far reaching in every 
community. His name — with his words of kind- 
ness and wisdom, and deeds of love — has been well 
heralded throughout our borders. It seems as if the 
whole nation of Intemperance and Vice is beginning 
to fret and heave from the enormous load his skill and 
struggles have put upon it. And it is plain that 
Christianity and Morality have been stirred up to 
the importance of a hearty co-operation with a plan 
that human wisdom can in no way condemn. 

All feel the magnitude of the work now fairly in- 
augurated. Every atmosphere is full of the move- 
ment our hero has championed. The millions are 
only waiting — and anxiously — to know who, and 
what, he really is who has been able to so trouble 
the pools throughout our great social system. 

HIS SUCCESS. 

As already intimated, Mr. Murphy is a new star 
in the canopy of our era — a brilliant gladiator in the 
arena of American life. He is both a leader of great 
promise, and a general of prodigious victories. His 
success is assured for the time to come. He has 
taken firm root in the soil of the whole people. 
Even now the plant fills the air with the perfume of 



16 THE TRUE PATH. 

its blossoms and fruit. All concede the fact that 
neither tongue nor pen can do justice to either the 
work#r or his work. 

It is evident that more than one million persons 
have signed the Murphy pledge. Among these is a 
large proportion of men and women who were slaves 
to their appetites for strong drink. Not a few were 
confirmed drunkards and outcasts. This is a glori- 
ous record — one that should cause the people in the 
true path — they of the Gates of Zion — to be filled 
with pleasure and songs of thanksgiving. 

Through this unprecedented success — we may say, 
this extraordinary share of Divine blessing — the 
people are largely aglow with earnestness and en- 
thusiasm. There is a disposition on the part of 
many to yield personal tastes and convictions, and 
subscribe to anything that will add to the general 
result. The tendency of the Church is toward 
more of prayer and labor and faith. And what may 
we not expect when the hearts of the Christian 
public are turned, from day to day, toward God — 
He who redeems more willingly than men receive 
his inestimable blessings. 

LEADING CHARACTERISTICS. 

One of the things c6nstantly developed in Mr. 
Murphy's labors is his unfaltering faith. He clearly 
has his convictions fixed upon the willingness of the 
Divine Spirit to aid every noble enterprise — especially 
that having for its purpose purely the elevation into 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 17 

spiritual life and activity of his unfortunate fellow- 
men. 

He also has confidence in the fact that ♦some- 
thing of good, however small or flickering, exists 
down somewhere in every soul — something which 
can be fanned into a flame sufficient to light up the 
whole being and fill it with righteousness and truth. 
He has faith that, hard by the refreshing and en- 
kindling power of the Almighty, on the one hand, 
and the feeble desires and latent sympathies of the 
fallen, on the other, there flows a continual stream 
of salvation ; and that a brotherly hand, warmed by 
a loving heart, may lift into useful manhood hosts 
of men who have long ceased to look for real friend- 
ship upon the earth. He has faith also that even 
one man, leaning heavily upon Christ, can accom- 
plish more against evil than regiments of men de- 
pending solely upon themselves. 

Another important feature is his peculiar aptitude 
at persuasiveness. By this none are harmed by him, 
in his approaches, or addresses, whilst many are 
either surprised and impressed, or speedily won to 
him. 

The former method of badgering with inuendos, 
or even epithets, is disdained. Even the first show 
of unkindness is studiously avoided. No hostility 
is awakened in the breast oY any one. Threatening 
is not so much as thought of alongside the better 
and more potent principle of Kindness — the child of 
Love — that divine grace and attribute which moves 
worlds, and heaven itself. 



18 THE TRUE PATH. 

Persuasion is at once carefully and thoroughly 
employed, adhered to, and held, as the central 
motive power. Men are taken by the hand. This 
is the easy and sure way to the heart. And well 
might religion profit by this, in all its various eccle- 
siastical methods, while striving for the glory of the 
Master. There is more hope for the reclamation of 
thousands in this way than in perhaps most of the 
denunciatory efforts of the pulpit and rostrum. 
There is much more of Christianity in the friendly 
shake of the hand than in many prayers offered. 
Mr. Murphy not only understands this, but seems 
to consider that a long and hearty shake of the 
hand and a short prayer is at no disadvantage over 
against a long prayer and a short and feeble act of 
fellowship. He moves toward the erring with a 
soul running over with a tenderness and persuasive- 
ness that melts them down as effectually as are bat- 
talions and brigades decimated before the well- 
delivered leaden hail of an entrenched enemy. 

Thus, where there has been no desire for reforma- 
tion he excites it. No matter how mean in appear- 
ance the man may be, he, the champion, grasps his 
hand and says, " My brother, come and assert your 
manhood ! Come ! You shall be saved 1" And he 
comes — for a ray of hope, for the first time, touches 
the darkened soul. 

There is also presented to us in the man the very 
essential elements of personality — giving, shape and 
even solidity to a sweeping popular enthusiasm. 
There can be no doubt as to the possession of this 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 19 

in a most extraordinary degree. He is at once cap- 
tivating through his gift of eloquence, his most 
admirable earnestness, his impressive manner, his 
delicacy of feeling, his robust and enduring physical 
organism, and, withal, his singularly magnetic pres- 
ence. All regard his personal appeals as irresistible, 
and calculated to thoroughly imbue his hearers with 
the same spirit by which he is himself moved. 

Thoroughness is seen, too, in all Mr. Murphy does. 
His mind not only expands, in proportion to the de- 
mands of his soul, in the great movement, but his 
plans and their fulfilment are distinguished for pre- 
cision and effectiveness. Nothing is done loosely or 
carelessly ; not a man is allowed to escape him, if in 
any way adapted to the work. Is one a good 
speaker ; has he an important and telling experience ; 
has he been distinguished among the intemperate, or 
frequenters of the drinking saloon, or grogery ? At 
once he is pushed to the front, constrained to tell 
his sad story and its rejoiceful sequel to the thou- 
sands, and then sent into the field to imitate the 
great leader in urging the necessity for, and value 
of, Gospel temperance. 

Often men have signed the pledge, and then 
walked away from philanthropic workers, as if all 
was done that it was possible for them to do. That 
act ended, the signer was -left to himself, and a 
world of snares and false friends. No interest was 
taken in them, and they were not encouraged to 
keep their solemn pledge by subsequent words or 
efforts. 



20 THE TEUE PATH. 

Eot so, is Mr. Murphy's work done. Men are 
clothed, fed, employed, encouraged, and drilled to 
faithfulness. Thus appeal after appeal has been 
made to the public. The leader himself has gone 
to private homes soliciting apparel for his converts. 
His self-sacrificing devotion has driven home to the 
great public heart the fact of his genuine humani- 
tarianism ; and the community of rum-venders and 
rum-drinkers have silently bowed their heads before 
him. 

One other peculiarity requires, at our hands, a few 
reflections. It is that of a deep, personal experience. 
This has made Mr. Murphy bold, strong and shrewd. 
It is the band that encircles his soul, and whatever 
of gifts and graces he possesses. He was saved from 
a terrible end. His redemption released him from 
the worst of foes. His tender nature and sympa- 
thies were caught up by the power of the Holy 
Spirit. His prayers carried him from a familiar 
degradation to peace and happiness in believing. 
His very cruelties to others, especially the objects of 
his love, brought to him a more persistent interest 
and affection in their behalf. 

Through this last characteristic, Mr. Murphy 
stepped out not only upon the broad platform, and 
into the pure air of universal manhood, but — as by 
an unseen impetus — began to ascend the heights 
by which he might more perfectly measure his 
privileges and opportunities, and from, which he 
might call to him those of like perils and misfor- 
tunes. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 21 

CHAPTEK II. 

MR. MURPHY'S DIFFICULTIES. 

It is well that the world has its generous and 
noble natures which press beyond the narrow con- 
fines of the cynics and fault-finders — a class seldom 
pleased with anything unless they do it themselves, 
although eager to enjoy the good opinions of others. 
It is well that there are men who consider and re- 
member their duty to God and humanity ; who are 
willing to be held up to the contempt of some so 
that others may be profited, and who are ready to 
endure as good soldiers, for the honor of the name of 
Christ. It even seems well, also, that there are at 
times difficulties before such valiant defenders of 
truth, by the overcoming of which we are led to 
know that the wisdom of man is as foolishness 
before Him who gives to all their talents, and whose 
spiritual gifts and blessings are greatly above the 
highest advantages of a carnal nature. 

Thus are we brought to ourselves. Thus does 
God humble the lofty and instruct the despised. 
And thus, while we see hundreds of the most 
learned and skilled from distinguished u Alma 
Maters " pass through lives full of golden opportu- 
nities, without acquiring a name beyond the slender 
fields of their professional or business engagements,* 
we are now and then amazed at the splendid acts 
of such as have risen from obscurity and disadvan- 
2* 



22 THE TRUE PATH. 

tages — as have asked no mercy of the proud wave 
above the surface, and yet transcended them all. 

Few persons, having such obstacles before them 
as had Francis Murphy, ever conceive of, or attempt, 
great popular movements. Fewer still meet with 
any respectable success in the attempts made. They 
who succeed, however — and especially who do so 
signally and continuously — must be great, find them 
what and where you will. God reigns among men, 
and no one can accomplish such results, unless he is 
a chosen vessel — having the peculiar characteristics 
of mind and soul most essential, however they may 
be hidden from human ken. 

It is neither an easy nor common thing for men, 
having the advantages of influence and education, 
to rise to prominence in our large communities. 
But for men to come from the depths of debauchery 
and the prison house, and without so much as an 
ordinary mental outfit, and then hew their way up 
to a place alongside the ablest and most distin- 
guished of our citizens, is truly marvellous, and 
demands our attention and respect. 

It may be objected by some, that such men are only 
great, because they meet the tastes, views, feelings 
and training of the crowd. Be it so. The. most 
distinguished of our countrymen, generally, in all 
departments of usefulness, have become so by con- 
sulting the requirements of the masses. Great 
"minds must bend to those around and beneath them, 
or their very greatness becomes a source of reproach. 
Truly popular men are more surely great than those 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 23 

who despise the Opinions of the world, simply be- 
cause of a consciousness of their superior personal 
attainments. 

There is a greatness that the schools cannot give 
— that the most exquisite preparation cannot pro- 
cure — and that rises in intrinsic merit and import- 
ance above all mind culture. It is born, and is 
somewhat of a rare production. It has to do with 
the soul. 

Education might have raised a mind and soul 
like Mr. Murphy's high up among the people with 
but little effort. But then his usefulness might 
have been thwarted. Difficulties make some men 
all the greater — often much more useful. His 
strength is seen more prominently in the indifference 
with which he treats the very qualification held to 
be so essential. He doubtless knows of his misfor- 
tune — if such it be — -perhaps, feels it for the moment ; 
but then led, as by a superhuman impulse, and a 
keen appreciation of his duty in behalf of suffering 
and erring humanity, he springs forward, appeals 
pointedly to men, catches their ears, wins their 
hearts, and holds them till he slays the enemy of 
their souls; and then anoints and bandages them 
for their new existence. 

The questions have been recently asked, " Whether 
men, having little more than dissolute lives to com- 
mend them to the public, are the proper persons to 
be recognized as leaders in important public move- 
ments ? " — " Whether wickedness should be made a 
vestibule to popularity ?" — " Whether those of offen- 



24 THE 'J' B u E PATH. 

sive antecedents should not be kept upon the stool 
of repentance for a goodly season, and held at a dis- 
count in matters of general interest'/" 

In answer to such inquiries, we scarcely know 
what to say. We would not utter anything having 
the appearance of unkindness in it. And yet we 
feel a deep sense of indignation in an attempt at 
their consideration. We regard them as an im- 
peachment of the common-sense <>r our people gener- 
ally. Yea, more! — they seem to he mi arraignment 
of the government of G-od among men! 

When our Lord called Saul, the " chief of sin- 
ners," He did no more than He is doing to day, both 
in the Church and out of it. And when lie docs so 
call, shall men shake their heads impiously and <\'-~ 
clare that wickedness with Jehovah is at a pre- 
mium ? 

We will use a homely illustration, and urge, that 
there are very many tame crows silling cozily and 
lazily upon the fence, which are only innocentof the 
decaying carcass of sin because it did not lie within 
easy range of their light. Perhaps if they had 
tasted if, they would enjoy more of active useful- 
ness; would desert their complacent and self-import- 
mil hahits ; would entertain more oharitable opinions 
of the world around them ; and would more actively 
and truthfully engage in the great conflict of life. 
The worst, sinners have been made so by the very 
bouI qualities that once subjeoted to the light and 
heat of God's Spirit — make i hem the best and most 
noble Christians, 



GOSP K I, T M P B! it A N <! ED. 20 

Again, we till n !< il, i:; no ivflec.fion upon Mieedu- 

oational interests of our day to say that sound, prac- 
tical sense flourishes most outside the range of our 
more prominent schools of learning. Nor do we 
violate the sentiments of the most experienced of 
intelligent Christians, when we'say that about the 
worst men in the Church are those who sit in judg- 
ment over others following simply their own un- 
charitable opinions, and seeking to punish accord- 
ingly — taking the whole business out of the hands 
of Him who hath said, " I will repay." 

[NELU1N0BS AGAINST HIM. 

These have evidently escaped the attention of Mr. 
Murphy, From remarks recently made by him, it 
in certain that, in his hurried and resistless labors, 
he has not seen the indifference and obstacles set up 
by various influencesj the moral support of which 
he should have had. 

We would first direct attention, under this cap- 
tion, to the secular press -that most notable power 
in the direction of either interesting and arousing 
the people, or checking and neutralizing public 
movements, if has to a considerable extent exer- 
cised remarkable caution in this entire temperance 
warfare. The reasons for this we can well under- 
stand, [ts interests have often been at stake. Ct 
has perhaps done all we could reasonably expect. 
But we are quite sure it* might have done abun- 
dantly more, had it assumed the independence char- 



26 THE TRUE PATH. 

acteristic of its course upon many other subjects. In 
numerous instances in the Middle, as also in the 
Eastern and Western States, it has yielded its favor 
grudgingly, and as if from the merest compulsion. 
To these, of course, there have been not a few 
honorable exceptions. We know of none which 
have been outspoken in their opposition ; yet many 
have failed in any moral support. 

Mr. Murphy has not given this his attention as 
others have done. And he has been sincere, doubt- 
less, in his declarations that the newspapers were 
able to render him helpless at any time. But we 
cannot for a moment believe, that Francis Murphy, 
in the hands of the Blessed Spirit of God, could be 
made helpless, although the combined efforts of 
newspaperdom were levelled squarely against him. 
At second thought, he will agree with us in this 
particular. But Mr. Murphy is kind. He hits at 
no one except to favor. He knows the power of the 
press, and is even grateful for its silence, where it has 
avoided support. But there are thousands through- 
out our nation who will hear of the kind words 
of the orator in regard to the press, and then con- 
clude that he said all he could say from the kindly 
swellings of his soul, and could risk little or 
nothing more. 

There are able and noble men in the great editorial 
fraternity of our country ; those who are eager to 
support every good enterprise ; who have re- 
joiced down in their hearts at Mr. Murphy's success ; 
and who doubtless have sympathetically watched the 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 27 

tide of general favor, as it rose up wave after wave 
around the champion, and then dashed from the 
centres and strongholds of the movement and washed 
over the suburban, and more remote districts, con- 
trolling and converting thousands. Some of them 
have given full reports at times, and uttered 
no word of disfavor. But in numerous instances, 
it is commonly reported and accepted among the 
people, their influence has not been what might and 
should have been. 

In addition to this, some influential religious news- 
papers, in various parts, have thus far largely failed 
in their support of Mr. Murphy. What shall we say 
of these, after the foregoing remarks ? If the secular 
press has been at fault, what have the Church papers 
not done, which, by their silence or covert thrusts, 
have been in the way of the good work ? They seem 
to have forgotten that Temperance and Christianity 
are of the same household — having the same Author, 
and Father, and divine •relationship ; that they live 
and labor together ; that they are united by indis- 
soluble ties, upon which their lives equally depend ; 
that unitedly they go out upon the great mission of 
alleviating human misery ; that they are heaven- 
appointed, and Jehovah-instructed, for the lifting up 
and sundering of the network of sin ; and that 
with the trials and misfortunes of one, come suffer- 
ing and confusion to the other. They are both as 
needful to the success of every Christian Church, of 
whatever name, as air and water are to the susten- 
ance of the human body. 



28 THE TRUE PATH. 

The Ministry in our cities has done good service by- 
taking Mr. Murphy and his converts by the hand, 
and giving them countenance and support. The 
leader has invoked the help of the watchmen in Zion, 
and has received it. His gratitude therefor has been 
unbounded. Yet there are those who have antago- 
nized him in his great work. What their reasons 
for such a course have been, we cannot understand. 
Evidently they have seen that the power of the 
Almighty is freely on the side of a weak vessel — one 
heretofore full of ignorance and sin. Because, perhaps 
they are unable to shut their eyes to this last feature, 
they forsooth resist Him by whom all victory is as- 
sured. They appear to turn away from every true 
and just impulse of a religious nature, and shield 
themselves behind the false dispositions and tastes 
of a depraved and flimsy social world. 

A WARNING. 

A few sentences may well be employed here as 
notes of warning to such of the ministry as hold in 
disfavor the Murphy enterprise. For years, not a 
few of our churches have become cold and negligent 
of the more responsible duties resting upon them. 
Thus, in our large cities and throughout the land, 
the Standard of Christ has frequently been lowered 
under a system of theological training, recognizing 
more the doctrines of men — and the need of a suc- 
cessful defence of views, involving the peculiar 
tenets of certain religious systems — than the high 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 29 

and holy doctrines of God. We have watched the 
conflict for some time between human philosophy, 
and the wisdom of the Divine Spirit. Logic, con- 
troversy and schemes have resulted freely from our 
late methods of seminary training, while the unction 
from above — so all-essential to true Christianity- 
has been neglected. 

Under such circumstances, God calls from the 
ranks of the debauched and uneducated, the men 
who, through His power, accomplish as much in a 
few short months, as professedly able ministers do in 
a life-time. Evangelists, brought up under the rays 
of the eternal sun, are suddenly sent out. They 
charm and electrify the people, and reflect the truths 
of the gospel abroad into their hearts. They become 
the whips in the hands of God, by which the Churches 
are punished, — or, rather, the goads by which the 
organized and regular means of salvation are incited 
to better and greater efforts. Therefore, it is not 
becoming or wise for those in the pulpit to question, 
criticise and deny the correctness and expediency of 
such labors as have recently startled us. 

We recognize all good as from God, and especially 
the kind that carries the Gospel to the crowds, and 
Christ to the hearts of the people. The feeble and 
foolish declaration so frequently put forth, that 
there is no permanence to such efforts as have dis- 
tinguished .Mr. Murphy and his co-laborers is not 
only erroneous and evil in effect, but contrary to the 
spirit of the Gospel. It is ours to do all we can for 
the common good — to preach all of the truth— to" 



30 THE TRUE PATH. 

lose no opportunity of conferring blessing upon every 
condition and degree of sinners. Even the method 
is, we apprehend, of minor consequence — so that we 
violate no plain law of Scripture. God will take 
care of the balance. If we, in good faith, save men 
for a season from sin, it will secure us as much re- 
ward, as if the dews of God's grace, and the Sun of 
the inner heavens had watered and warmed them all 
through life. It is not ours to consider the perma- 
nence of the thing, or to sit in judgment over times 
and circumstances which have not transpired, any 
more than it is right for the farmer to refuse to put 
his crops into the earth because he believes there 
will be a plague or a drought. We are commanded 
to plough, sow and water. We are to leave the in- 
crease with God. The duty — the labor — belongs to 
man ; the result belongs solely to Him who knoweth 
all things, and whose wisdom in not given to another. 



CHAPTER III. 

PREVIOUS TEMPERANCE MOVEMENTS. 

Before considering the Gospel Temperance Plan of 
Mr. Murphy, it may be well — for the information of 
the reader — at this point, to consider j, as succinctly 
as possible, the history of the various temperance 
movements in our own country. 

In the year 1651, by direction of a public meeting, 
the town of East Hampton, L. L, arranged itself 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 31 

against drunkenness, and a little later limited the 
amount h I liquor to be sold. In 1676 the Legislature 
of the State of Virginia passed a prohibitory act. 
In 1700 steps were taken at different points against 
the use of liquor at funerals. In 1777 the Conti- 
nental Congress urged upon the State Governments 
the prevention of" the pernicious practice of distill- 
ing grain." In 1789 the first temperance society 
was formed in Litchfield Co., Conn. In 1794 Dr. 
Rush advocated total abstinence. In 1797 a relig- 
ious opposition to the use of liquors made its 
appearance among the Methodists, Presbyterians and 
other sects. In 1805 the Philadelphia paper makers 
formed a temperance association. In 1808, on ac- 
count of the alarming increase of drunkenness, a 
Union Temperance Organization was effected in New 
York. In 1811 reform began in Philadelphia. In 
1813 was organized the Massachusetts Society for 
the Prevention of Intemperance. In 1825, the ad- 
vocacy of total abstinence again became somewhat 
formidable. In 1826 the American Temperance 
Society of Boston was organized ; shortly after 
which societies sprung up everywhere throughout 
the country. In 1827 medical societies declared 
against liquors ; religious assemblies declaimed 
against them ; and prominent advocates of total 
abstinence appeared. Before the close of 1827 two 
hundred and twenty-two societies were formed, 
having thirty thousand members. In 1829 one 
thousand societies existed, and one hundred thou- 
sand men were pledged against liquors. In 1831 



32 THE TRUE PITH. 

there were twenty-two hundred local societies and 
one hundred and seventy thousand members, and 
the question of license was pressed to the ballot. In 
1832 the Secretaries of War and the Navy of the 
United States substituted coffee and sugar for liquors 
in the forts, camps, garrisons, navy yards and ves- 
sels. In 1833 meetings were general ; the first 
regular total abstinence society was formed ; a Con- 
gressional Society was organized, with General Cass 
as president ; and the number of societies had in- 
creased to five thousand having a membership of 
one and a quarter million. In this year, also, the 
first National Temperance Society meeting was held 
at Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. In 1834 the 
General Government sanctioned prohibition. In 

1837 a prohibitory law was offered and defeated in 
Maine, and Neal Dow began to be conspicuous. In 

1838 several states passed stringent, liquor laws. In 

1839 Mississippi passed a " one gallon law," and Illi- 
nois a local option bill. This year news of the 
work of Father Mathew, in Ireland, reached our 
country and caused great rejoicing among temper- 
ance people. On July 4th, Boston held a Cold Water 
Jubilee. In 1840 six inebriates inaugurated " The 
Washingtonians " in Baltimore. The effect of this 
society was marvellous. Reformed men arose every- 
where. Two of these visited various States and 
obtained thirty-four thousand signatures. The sup- 
position is that one hundred and fifty thousand 
pledges were obtained from this movement. 

A great work begau in 1842, in the organization 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 33 

of the Suns of Temperance, the influence and power 
of which has continued until the present. In addi- 
tion to this the Order of Eechabites was introduced 
from England, and gained considerable favor. John 
B. Gough, the eloquent, began his labors of reform 
also during this year. In 1845 the Templar Society 
began its existence. In 1846 Maine secured a pro- 
hibitory law. During this year the Order of Cadets 
of Temperance was originated, and was followed 
by the G-ood Samaritans in New York. In 1848 
New Hampshire and other States obtained prohibi- 
tion. In 1849 Father Mathew landed in New York, 
through whom was founded the present Total 
Abstinence Brotherhood. In 1852 the Maine law 
had its birth. In 1853, a World's Temperance Con- 
vention was held in New York. In 1856 the 
American Juvenile Temperance Society was formed. 
In 1859, the total abstinence society, called the 
" Dashaways," was organized by four young men in 
San Francisco. In 1860 the Temperance Flying 
Artillery was instituted in Chicago. In 1865 the 
National Temperance Society was begun, with Hon. 
W. B. Dodge as president. In the same year, the Cali- 
fornia Temperance Legion, and Maryland Absti- 
nence League appeared, and Congress excluded 
liquor from the capitol and grounds. In 1866 the 
Pennsylvania State Temperance Union was started. 
In 1868 the Friends of Temperance was begun in 
Virginia. During the same year the Young Men's 
Christian Association became first identified with 
the temperance movement. In 1869 the Ladies 



34 THE TEUE PATH. 

Reform was organized in Ohio. In 1871 Total Ab- 
stinence Catholic Societies were formed. In 1873 
the Women's Crusade in the West came into promi- 
nence, and soon developed into the Women's Chris- 
tian Temperance Union. In 1875 two National 
Temperance Conventions met and effected consid- 
erable legislation. In 1876, at Independence Hall, 
a grand International Temperance Convention was 
held. Since this, and especially during the present 
year, much has been done through the evangelistic 
efforts of D. L. Moody and others. But nothing 
approximating to the present movement has ever 
transpired in this, or, perhaps, any other country. 

DIFFERENT OPINIONS CURRENT. 

The Murphy plan is a new one — not theoretically, 
or even, perhaps, practically, but — in its arrange- 
ment, methods and scope. Heretofore, the alarming 
increase of intemperance, debauchery and crime has 
given rise to much of serious thought and effort on 
the part of prominent Christians and Philanthropists. 
'No stone has been left unturned in the search for a 
remedy ; no expenditure of treasure spared in at- 
temps to shield the weak and helpless ; no influences 
withheld from the devotee of the poisoned chalice- 
looking to his liberation from the fangs of the ser- 
pent within it. There has been much of anxiety, 
counselling, and debate, as well as labor. And, as 
any one would readily conclude, there has been an 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 35 

endless variety of opinions as to the most proper 
and effectual conrse to pursue. 

On the part of a great number of persons, legal 
enactments are the only hope for any permanent or 
thorough success. The infliction of severe penalties 
upon all who become intoxicated is esteemed by 
them the sure way to an abandonment of the evil. 
Having failed to overcome the great combinations 
formed by men who traffic in alcoholic and malt 
liquors — and in wretched, undone souls — and fear- 
ing any further attempts against those of the "first 
cause," in this national evil, as fruitless, on account 
of the support and protection secured by legislation 
— they have turned upon the poor creature of his 
appetite, and would add inhumanity to misery ; in 
other words, using the legal phrase, they would 
liberate " the party of the first part," on account of 
his strength of purse, and his hold upon the good- 
will of the crowd, and visit his act upon one who is 
scarcely a " particeps criminis " — but little more 
than a poor dupe. In a word, they would kill the 
tree by lopping off its outer twigs. 

Many others would go further and deeper, in their 
onslaughts upon the evil, and would cut at the trunk 
of the tree, and, if possible, sever it from its roots. 
They would war against the tavern and saloon 
keepers, and, through ceaseless struggling at the 
ballot-box, and with our law makers — securing most 
stringent limitations and barriers, or, further still, a 
prohibitory law — would annihilate the " middle- 
man." Their purposes transpired in the Murphy 



36 THE TEUE PATH. 

awakening, .and have fairly come to the surface at 
this stage of the movement. They denounce the 
seller, as a blot upon society's face, a moral leper in 
the community, a disgrace to our age, and as one of 
the worst, and most to be despised of men. 

Between these warriors in the cause of prohibi- 
tion, and Mr. Murphy, there is considerable vari- 
ance, if not dissension. Mr. Murphy claims — and 
he speaks from his own experience — that there are 
thousands of men in the liquor business who have 
engaged in it because of a seeming necessity ; that 
they have good heads and hearts ; that they are 
capable of becoming ornaments among men ; that 
they are not degraded down in their souls ; and 
that they are no little sinned against in having hurled 
at them the opprobrious epithets of prohibitionists. 

Therefore, while the one side would resort to un- 
relenting and vigilant legal means, the other would 
take the purest and broadest spirit of our Christian 
religion, and aim at the convictions. The prohibi- 
tionists carry in their hands the law. Mr. Murphy — 
disgusted with the moral faithlessness and pusil- 
lanimity of law makers — has seized upon the 
Gospel. Of course, our sympathies are with Mr. 
Murphy. We believe — yea, we know, from no 
little of association with Christians — that when the 
law fails, the Gospel most effectually triumphs. 

We cannot agree to the assertion that .all who 
traffic in liquors, are the worst and most despicable 
of men. Their business is enormously wicked, 
doubtlessly, on account of many things belong- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 37 

ing to, and growing out of it. But the dealer 
does not so regard it, and is often blind to the 
injury he does to the cause of God and of 
humanity. He often does not see the terrors of 
drunkenness, as they appear in the lives and the 
families of his customers, and even in the prison- 
homes of his victims — unless, indeed, he becomes 
the victim himself. This was the case with Mr. 
Murphy. Then, when he accidentally awakens to 
his true situation, he is appalled ; his soul is stirred; 
he abhors the life consequent upon his nefarious 
pursuit ; he catches at new desires ; he seeks the 
only guidance known to man, and humbly falls 
down before God. Thus it was, also, with Mr. Mur- 
phy. And before the prohibition school can fasten 
upon the average Christian heart its -views and 
claims, and make believe that the liquor venders 
are a worthless, God-forsaken body, they must hide 
away the double character of Francis Murphy, the 
liquor-seller, drunkard, and prisoner, and Francis 
Murphy, the hero and champion of the grandest tem- 
perance reform that has ever visited the centuries. 

Far be it from us to attempt to elevate the busi- 
ness of the men who contribute more than all others 
to the misery of our race. We could not do it, and 
would flee the very thought. But it is always God- 
like to elevate men. It is well to degrade the thing 
that is evil ; it is error to degrade the men that do 
evil. Lift up Christ in all things ; and in obedience 
to His plain teachings, do good to all men. Never 
hate, despise or condemn, while the blood of the 
3 



dO THE TRUE PATH. 

atonement is sufficient to make as pure as wool the 
crimson-dyed sinner. 

AT THE ROOTS. 

There is yet one other class of temperance men. 
They maintain that it is necessary for us to go be- 
yond both twigs and branches and trunk, and dig 
out the whole tree — -roots and all. They object not 
only to the license system in toto, but are opposed to 
the distillation and brewing of liquors, and would 
have severe measures against their manufacture. 
That this is striking at the roots of the evil, none 
will question. But effort in this direction, # under 
our present system of government, would seem like 
endeavoring to dry up the sea by drainage. Our 
legislators are, to a considerable extent, not only 
patrons of the tavern-keepers, but dependent upon 
their favor for a continuance in office. They know — 
many of them — that if it were not for the interests 
of rum they ^vould never be allowed to fill their 
positions ; that it is by the way of the bar, and the 
toddy, they have come — and that everything aimed 
at these is, to them, a deeply personal affair. How 
can they break faith with their only friends ? We 
can understand how this would be suicide with them, 
although they fail to see how the suicide would be a 
great blessing to the public. 

In this connection, we cannot but remark that 
the present method of holding elections, in many 
of our cities and populous districts, at hotels, tav- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 30 

erns and little groggeries, is an outrage upon Chris- 
tianity and morality. We care little for the plea 
that our laws require such places to be closed on 
election day. The compromise is perhaps an im- 
provement upon the old system, but is only a slight 
concession on the side of the evil. What was done 
publicly is now only done privately. No amount of 
excuse can justify it in a single instance. It would 
be more profitable to the tax-payer either to have 
small buildings erected for the purpose, or to remun- 
erate families, having reputation for temperance, 
for the use of their homes, than to continue a means 
by which the friends of intemperance obtain domi- 
nance in local government. For we remember that 
these make fifty per cent, of our insane — sixty-five 
per cent, of our paupers— seventy-five per cent, of 
our murders — eighty per cent, of our criminals — 
ninety-five per cent, of our vicious youth — and send 
one every six minutes into a drunkard's grave, or 
nearly one hundred thousand precious souls a year ! 
How shameful, then, that our ballot-boxes — ■ 
designed to be kept sacredly pure — are frequently 
placed in the houses whence vice, corruption and 
drunkenness proceed — where the fiery fluid that 
steals away reason is freely dispensed — where the 
most profligate and malicious in the community 
spend their hours — and where there is every incite- 
ment to fraud, riot and murder. And to such 
points Christian Ministers, and all honest and good 
citizens are compelled to go, if they would exercise 
the right and duty of franchise! Compelled to 



40 THE TRUE PATH. 

breathe an air vitiated by the peculiar odor of the 
still product, as well as by the many hot breaths, 
alike poisoned by rum, cheap tobacco and profanity. 

We fancy it would be prudent for the intelligent 
women of our land to operate loudly and boldly 
against this evil — in view of its possible effect upon 
their fathers, husbands and brothers — before seeking 
to tread themselves — with ballot in hand — the mis- 
erable purlieus of the spots where revelry is most 
unblushing and degenerate. 

How can it be otherwise than that liquor dealers 
and their friends should feel themselves to be the 
true custodians of the voice and will of the people, 
while such things are permitted to continue? How- 
can we be surprised at the power of rum in our 
midst, and the inability of men to overcome the 
influence of organized distillers, when our highest 
privileges as citizens are at the mercy of the retailers 
of the fiery stuff? How can we expect anything 
else than legislators, councilmen, and aldermen and 
magistrates of corrupt and bacchanalian sympathies 
and tendencies ? 

By all means, then, let the influential classes 
who are opposed, both to the license system and the 
manufacture of liquors, go consistently to work, and 
strive for a divorce of rum and the ballot-box, 
before looking to the offspring of these — our legis- 
lators — for a destruction of the foundation of the 
whole fabric of King Alcohol. They have been try- 
ing to legislate against the distiller and dealer for 
over half a century and have steadily failed. More 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 41 

rum is consumed in our country now than ever 
before. Perhaps, if these extremists had pursued the 
course referred to, their cause might have been victo- 
rious long since. 

All parties holding to the various opinions consid- 
ered have done something of good — must have con- 
tributed somewhat to the success of sobriety among 
us. But they have fallen short, doubtless, of their 
ability in the premises. Not a few, of our wisest 
and clearest thinkers, have admitted that none 
have proven themselves equal to the demands of our 
times. 



CHAPTER IV. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 



Mr. Murphy has been thoroughly convinced of 
the weakness and ineffectualness of the methods 
heretofore resorted to. Another must be sought. 
He, himself, had failed of reformation before in- 
voking the aid of Divine power. Herein was the 
successful way. It was the true path to him, and 
would surely be to everyone. He had not the 
strength of himself, but God gave him freely of 
grace, and he was thoroughly brought to hate the 
beastly liquid he once loved. This must be made 
plain to others. His way was not open to the 
pulpit, but he could go upon the rostrum and ap~ 



42 THE TKUE .PATH. 

peal to his fellow-man. He could take his own 
simple narrative of wretchedness and crime, and of 
his final salvation at the foot of the Cross. This he 
would do. The Gospel of the Son of God had 
brought him to temperance and peace, and now he 
would lift up a banner that he well knew would 
save to the uttermost — that of Gospel Temperance. 

Counselling the erring — appealing to whatever of 
manhood remained, inducing them to sign the 
pledge, assuring them of all needful support from 
Jehovah, pointing them to. the wide mercies of a 
present Saviour, and turning their attention to a 
life of prayer and faith — would be the effort of his 
life, and would necessarily have triumph. 

God would thus not only enable the individual 
convert to stand above his appetite, but would also 
give encouragement and power to every means put 
forth for the rescue of others — in a word, would fill 
the cause with His presence and blessing. Thus he 
might become an instrument of great good ; per- 
haps, be made a power against evil ; might gather 
into a new plan of reform the masses in the com- 
munity ; and might make, through love and kind- 
ness, to the living, active souls within the grasp of 
Satan, their wicked practices and avocation more 
unpopular and offensive than ever. 

The resolution was taken. His family were in- 
formed of it. He plainly and in brief sentences re- 
vealed to them the thoughts of his mind and desires 
of his soul ; and they could not but acquiesce in the 
generous and noble purposes, so new and strange 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 43 

were they to all they had previously experienced. 
His soul was evidently on fire — for his language had 
become thoroughly warmed — and his tones and 
earnestness reached their hearts. They fell in freely 
with his sentences of irresistible eloquence. The 
giant was rising to his task. 

Thus the temperance of Mr. Murphy was of the 
Spirit. When a man becomes a sincere Christian, 
he is alive to the importance of having others accept 
his Saviour ; he has a hungering for souls. The 
reformation of this man was complete, being accom- 
plished through the Gospel. The Lord had revealed 
Himself to him in this way. He^lesired to know or 
teach no other method. 

And Mr. Murphy has been consistent throughout. 
He has encountered strong and able advocates of 
other methods, but he has successfully withstood 
all their views, prejudices and influences. He ad- 
heres to the one plan. , He will follow it against all 
opposition. He regards it as the true path — the 
Lord's way — and it were violence and crime to leave 
it. More than this, he is conscious that he has the 
Divine help, while faithful to it, and believes 
that his success would cease were he to forsake it. 
In this he is wise, as the history of all other plans 
abundantly shows. 

When the Washingtonians came into existence, 
in 1840, multitudes gathered around them. In a 
short time they numbered two hundred and fifty 
thousand. The country was largely influenced by the 
movement. Christians were deeply interested in its 



44 TEE TRUE PATH. 

behalf, and the aisles and vestibules of Houses of 
Worship, as well as the street corners and all 
gathering places, were the scenes of animated con- 
verse and jubilant demonstrations. The Spirit of 
the Almighty was plainly seen in the work. The 
effect upon the whole public mind was unmistak- 
able. The Church approached the great work. 

But, at this juncture, the members of the organ- 
ization became narrowed through regarding man, 
and his extended labors, and forgetting God. Thus, 
speedily the Gospel was separated from the move- 
ment, in deference to those who were unchristian in 
their views. The iBible, the Cross and Prayer were 
ignored. Then came a sudden and inglorious fail- 
ure. This result has attended a similar proceedure 
in a lesser degree, in various other attempts. And 
we believe that discomfiture must quickly come in 
all instances in which the power is other than of 
God. The will of man is weak in itself. His pledge 
is not sure. If he fails to look up to the only 
Helper, he will surely be brought to shame, if not 
to the complete power of the enemy. 

OPPOSITION OF CHRISTIANS. 

There is a circumstance in connection with Gospel 
Temperance to which we believe it necessary to 
allude. It is in the fact that it is opposed by some 
who are confessedly Christians, and members of 
orthodox churches. This appears to us, at a glance, 
as unaccountably strauge. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 45 

It is evident that the Gospel is of God ; that it 
reveals the mind and will of our Creator ; and that 
it is good and true, though everything else be false. 
What objection, then, can a consistent believer offer 
to Gospel Temperance? If Gospel teachings are 
right, why not its Temperance ? 

THE TERM AS USED BY MR. MURPHY. 

" But," says the objector, " we do not object to 
Gospel Temperance — only to the term as used by 
the Murphy school. In their hands it is a mis- 
nomer. We believe the Gospel way to be the True 
Path — but we cannot accept the Murphy abstinence 
way as such.' 7 

Now, let us frankly look at these objections. The 
Gospel of Christ enjoins temperance. Here none 
will dissent. Temperance in all things is needful. 
But it goes further than this. It enforces, at times, 
abstinence. It requires of us that we be absolutely 
separated from anything by which we cause a 
brother to offend. When we, therefore, do that 
which leads another to sin, we are far from ex- 
cusable. In such case, if we simply taste, we are 
intemperate. The Gospel shows us that not only 
is the excess or abuse of many things intemperance, 
but also the very use by which we cause stumbling. 
For this reason Paul declares that if the use of meat 
causes his brother to offend, then will he never eat 
it. Therefore, we affirm that the sin is not in the 
thing itself, it is simply in its injury to ourselves 

and others. 

3* 



46 THE TRUE PATH. 

We are morally and religiously bound to conform 
to the things that are most expedient, both for our- 
selves and others. To nothing will this question 
of expediency more fully and potently apply than 
to temperance. Strong drink is the bane of our 
country ; is carrying our young men of best promise 
by thousands into the ranks of sin, that they may be 
hurried beyond the reach of truth as effectually as 
was Uriah put away at the command of his un- 
faithful king. All believers are especially subject 
to the restraint imposed by the Gospel — which but 
reflects the safeguards enjoined in even the Old Dis- 
pensation. The whole law is clear authority for a 
total separation from intoxicating beverages, and re- 
veals to us the important truth that there is greater 
need of special efforts against intemperance than 
nearly all other sins. 

Individual rights cease to be such the moment 
they ignore the rights of others. The net-work of 
society is as thoroughly interwoven and identical as 
that of a great seine, which, when there is a single 
rent anywhere, is more or less impaired ; or, is as 
sympathetic in its structure as the human body 
which, when injured in any part, is made to suffer 
as a whole. Therefore the entire body of society, in 
view of the blighting effects ol intemperance, and 
the highly inebriating properties of modern drinks, 
has the highest and most sacred reasons for requir- 
ing a strict enforcement of the abstinence features 
of Mr. Murphy's Gospel Temperance. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 47 



EXAMPLE AND TEACHINGS OF CHRIST. 

" But," says the objector, " our Saviour doubtless 
used wine, permitted others to use it, and even 
turned water into good wine," — emphasizing with an 
air of satisfaction the word " good." We will not 
attempt, at this particular juncture, an argument 
as to the kind of wine used under the cognizance of 
Christ. We will, to gratify those of opposite views, 
just for a few moments, allow what they claim — 
that it was alcoholic, or fermented wine. Wh#t 
does that prove? Our Lord was hunted and 
watched throughout His ministry by His enemies, 
who failed at any time to detect a flaw in His acts 
or character. Had He shown the least fondness, or 
favor, for wine, beyond what prudence or unim- 
peachable sobriety admitted, He would have been 
quickly assailed therefor, and the circumstances 
have been put upon record. Had He done anything 
contrary to the temperance principles- set forth 
throughout His Gospel, He would have lost His 
hold upon those who thronged His sacred person, 
and would have caused their hearts to be filled with 
doubt and unbelief. 

On the other hand, where can we find more pro- 
nounced declarations against intemperance than in 
the New Dispensation ? By drunkenness we become 
guilty of the whole law ; by it we are shut out of 
the kingdom of His glory ; and by it we are shut 
out— -by the concurrent action of the universal 



48 THE TRUE PATH. 

Christian Church in the ages — of the assemblies of 
His saints upon the earth. 

Certainly, no evil has ever resulted from what 
Christ did in relation to this entire subject. We 
have every reason to believe that no drunkenness, or 
wickedness came from the festivities of Cana ; that 
their effects on those who hung upon the lips and 
steps of the Master, were harmless ; and that the 
surroundings, the custom of the times, and the wine 
itself were all such as to forbid anything baneful. 
Any other conclusion is at variance with the known 
character and word of Christ. 

We know, as is often urged, that the juice of the 
grape is " the creature of God." We do not regard 
it as any more so than the gold and silver and cop- 
per. He has not intended their use in such a way 
as to create evil desires in the human heart. If such 
juice is taken into our bodies simply from the love 
of it, and because of an evil appetite — which means 
because of its alcoholic effects, and without some 
purely sanitary, otherwise, good and important pur- 
pose ; especially in full knowledge of its evil influ- 
ence upon ourselves and others — then, we offend. 
The Gospel is clearly and broadly against every- 
thing — whether food or drink — that especially con- 
duces to intemperance in any direction. Our ap- 
petites must both be conquered and held under 
subjection. We must habituate them to denial,, 
whenever the interests of the soul are jeopardized. 

The objections to Gospel Temperance, based upon 
the acts of our Lord, are trifling in their character, 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 49 

and wicked in fact. Pure grape juice — fermented, 
or otherwise — is not in the question at issue. It is 
seized upon to cloak and protect the miserable and 
powerful distillations and decoctions that alone are 
found in our public drinking places. Men argue, for 
effect, and from narrow and improper motives, as well 
as in ignorance of the real facts, when they urge that 
because wine was used with the knowledge and con- 
sent of our Lord, therefore the Gospel allows stimu- 
lating drinks. A comparison of even the pure 
alcoholic wine, of our own times, with the villainous 
compounds of nineteen-twentieths or ninety-nine 
one-hundredths of our bar-rooms, should bring the 
blush of shame to the cheeks of such persons. 

In all this we have felt unwilling to admit any- 
thing favorable to wine. We apprehend that— in 
these times of high chemical advancement, and apti- 
tude at imitation, when it is known that there is a 
surplusage of poison and deception in tbe " vile 
stuff" so innocently advertised upon bottles, barrels, 
and signs — the use of wine, or even colored water, 
publicly, is an abuse. 

Christ's wine not intoxicating. 

It may be well for us here to adduce the testi- 
mony of one of the most learned students of the 
Bible our country has produced, — a man who bat- 
tled against both wine and strong drink of all kinds 
while he lived, — and one of the most effective of 
that class who believed that the wine of our Lord 



50 THE TRUE PATH. 

was unalcoholic. He says : " The Bible speaks with 
approbation thirty-six times of substances called 
Tirosh in Hebrew, Oinos in Greek, Vinum in Latin, 
and wine in English, and nine times of similar sub- 
stances called by other names ; and fifty times of 
Yayin (Heb.), Oinos, Vinum and wine, and in every 
instance meaning either grapes, fresh grape juice, or 
grape juice boiled to a syrup, so as to prevent fer- 
mentation, and often ' mingled ' with from three to 
twelve times its volume of water, forming a deli- 
cious drink. In nearly all these cases the substances 
named would not intoxicate, though freely used as 
food or drink, and they would not create a morbid 
craving, which increased as it was gratified until its 
victims were consumed. On the other hand, Yayin, 
Oinos, Vinum, wine, or strong drink, and in other 
words, are named with disapprobation over one 
hundred times, meaning fermented wines for liquors, 
or those liquors ' mingled ' with drugs. Though in 
extreme agony, and almost exhausted, Christ re- 
jected the wine ' mingled ' with myrrh, which was 
offered to Him on the cross, though He had often 
used the unintoxicating wines of Palestine, and even 
worked his first miracle to turn the water into this 
harmless wine. Christ's wine at Cana was not intoxi- 
cating, for it was better than what they had used 
until they had ' well drunk,' or drank nearly enough ; 
and Philo, a Jew, Plato, a Greek, and Pliny, a 
Roman, and other eminent ancients, expressly say 
that ' the best wine would not intoxicate.' At the 
passover, when Christ instituted the Lord's Supper, 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 51 

no fermented bread or wine could be used by any 
Jew." 

MR. MURPHY CONSISTENT. 



Thus, we believe that the temperance advocated 
to-day by Mr. Murphy is consistent with the G-ospel ; 
that in its prohibitory features it does not transcend, 
in one iota, the Divine instructions ; and that the 
moral power he invokes in behalf of the cause is the 
highest and most thorough, as well as the only per- 
fect way. When men have broken resolution after 
resolution ; when they have become miserably be- 
sotted and profane ; when they have fallen to the 
depths of intolerable pests ; when streams of obscenity 
and vice flow from their mouths as streams of filth 
from the public sewers ; and when they have 
nothing of confidence and hope left, — the Gospel is 
able to redeem, raise up and employ. None, amona 
the worst, are despised by it. Its principles and 
power are extended to all. 

There is but one difficulty in the way of most 
thorough success, in the advocacy of Gospel Tern, 
perance, which Mr. Marphy recognizes as no one 
before him has so fully done. Men must be con- 
sistent. They must not regard caste. The acts of 
temperance people are closely criticised by the sub- 
ject of reformation, as well as by the reformed 
drunkard. And the existence of the " I-am-better- 
than-thou" principle has sent many a good-meaning 
reformed man back to the haunts of intemperance. 



52 THE TRUE PATH. 

It is not only needful that men lift their fallen 
brethren up, but that they help to steady them 
when upon their feet. The humility and kindness, 
that enable individuals to help others out of the 
gutter, must not desert them when they happen to 
catch the eye of a proud and uncharitable world 
behind them. Faithfulness to the first act only 
makes the work admirable, successful aud noble. 
Otherwise insult is added to misery, and offence to 
sin. • 

NECESSITY FOR GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 

Before leaving this branch of our subject it may 
be well to add a few words in recognition of the 
vast importance to the public and the world at large 
of Gospel Temperance. By statistics of the most 
reliable nature we are assured that various nations 
of the earth expend annually between one and two 
billions of money for intoxicating beverages — an 
amount which would feed and clothe every creature 
of poverty, educate every young person, furnish a 
home to every family, provide a Bible for every 
fireside, and send the tidings of salvation to every 
part of heathendom. We know, also, by statistics 
equally authentic, that there are one hundred and 
fifty thousand drinking saloons in the United States, 
and fLve hundred thousand habitual drunkards — 
of whom fifty thousand die annually. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 53 

PART II.-THE BIOGRAPHY 

OF 

FRANCIS MURPHY. 



CHAPTER V . 

MR. MURPHY'S EARLY LIFE. 

The great Apostle of Temperance was born on 
the 24th day of April, 1836, in Wexford, county of 
Wexford, Ireland. His mother was an humble Irish 
peasant widow, in rather empoverished circumstan- 
ces. His father, after a brief illness, died a short 
time previous to his birth. Often has he made the 
somewhat pathetic remark that, " he never knew a 
father's face or a father's smile." 

His home belonged to an estate. It was a small, 
thatched cottage, such as is usually met with among * 
the poorer people of the Green Isle, and as is occasion- 
ally seen in our own country, in rural districts, 
somewhat remote from business centres. This home 
overlooked the sea, being upon the Harbor of Wex- 
ford, not very distant from St. George's Channel, 
which connects the Irish Sea with the Atlantic 
Ocean. 



54 THE TRUE PATH. 

On the brow of a small hill, rising from the har- 
bor, was nestled the little cottage, having every 
appearance of humbleness and quiet. About it was 
the little garden of the household, in which were 
grown the most necessary vegetables, together with 
some beautiful flowers — combining the useful and 
ornamental — whilst, a little beyond, the golden 
grain lifted its myriad heads, as if watching the 
great expanse of water at its feet, and ever and 
anon bowing and swelling in imitation of its restless 
motion. Above it was the majestically curved 
canopy, which nowhere upon the earth has ever 
looked brighter and bluer than over Erin's hills and 
slopes, as they descend toward the turbulent sea. 
Beyond it, and not very distant, running out to- 
ward the Channel, appeared the rocky sides which 
have resisted successfully the tides and waves for 
centuries, and hurled back their angry and helpless 
foam. And, more prominently than all these, there 
loomed up the world of water upon the one side, 
and the clearly defiued hills reposing lazily against 
the clouds, upon the other. Everything, at once, 
beautifully conspired together to give character to 
» the scene, and make the home seem most lowly. 
Here, in youth, did Mr. Murphy catch the im- 
pressions and feelings that have greatly contributed 
to his effectiveness as a public speaker and worker ; 
here were formed the aspirations and desires that 
could never be satisfied with mere individual suc- 
cess in life; and here, too, were nourished the soul 
faculties that have enabled him to look through the 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE, 55 

mists of misfortune and the gloom of prison-life, and 
to rise above the meanness of confirmed dissipation. 
Certainly, few persons, raised amidst the charms of 
such natural surroundings, and having aught of 
spiritual discernment, could fail eventually to step 
out freely into the majesty of the Divine Spirit. 

his parents' religion. 

Mr. Murphy's parents were of the Roman Catholic 
persuasion. His mother was a devoted member of 
the Church, and carried her views and feelings into 
the family. She was ever ready to call her children 
to her side in the hour of prayer. " Well do I re- 
member," said the lecturer, on one occasion, " how, 
when I was a youth, and was kneeling with my 
mother in silent prayer, she asked God to watch 
over my helplessness, and guide my riper years into 
the way of peace." She realized that there was 
One to whom she should go for direction, in the 
arduous and responsible duties of her household, 
and to Him she often went, leading her children by 
their hands. 

struggles with poverty. 

The lives of the Murphys in Ireland were a con- 
nected series of struggles with poverty. The order 
of each day successively was work — quiet, heavy, 
steady toil. The children were required to take 
their share in whatever was to be done. In certain 



56 THE TRUE PATH. 

seasons mey had little of substantial rest. And 
their labors were attended, also, with considerable of 
inconvenience. At one time, in an address bearing 
upon these remarks, Mr. Murphy said, — " There is 
such a thing as decent poverty, but I know, from 
personal encounter, that it is very inconvenient. I 
remember of going into the harvest-field, and glean- 
ing, and then taking the grain into the house, 
pushing away the furniture, and thrashing it out at 
night." 

PECULIAR HOSPITALITY. 

Although trials of this kind would indicate to the 
people in our favored land an extreme condition of 
poverty ; yet, it may be well to remember that the 
Murphy family, like thousands of others in Ireland, 
were not the subjects of want. Otherwise, they 
found occasional opportunity of engaging in a 
species of hospitality peculiar to the people of that 
far-off island, — a hospitality occasionally referred to 
by travellers and tourists in terms of warmest com- 
mendation. In reference to this Mr. Murphy spoke 
as follows in one of his public addresses : 

" Public dinners were popular in the old country ; 
and, though we could not afford them, our friends 
would be invited sometimes, because my mother 
thought that it would be considered mean if she 
did not invite them. I enjoyed those days on 
which the friends would come to be feasted at the 
little home. And the table might groan beneath 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 57 

the luxuries, unless there was liquor upon it some- 
thing seemed needed for the occasion. 

" It has been the fashion in my country, from time 
immemorial, to have liquor on the table; and it is 
thus that a great many young men have been 
brought into the habit of drinking, resulting, in the 
course of time, in their disgrace and shame. 

" I remember, when the table was spread, and all 
the arrangements made, how I was allowed to come 
into the room and see it. The white Irish linen 
cover and the little china tea cups, with a gilt rim 
around the edge, looked beautiful upon it. I re- 
member, that when I only touched one of the cups 
it would seem to sing like a bird. I could see all 
the large raisins in the cake; and it was with diffi< 
culty I could keep my fingers from them. Of 
course, I knew that if I touched them my mother 
would stir me up. 

youngster's huddled into the kitchen. 

" When you have a feast in this country the chil- 
dren are brought into the room and are introduced 
to the friends. In my country the youngsters are 
huddled into the kitchen. This was a part of our 
entertainments I did not like. My mother, when 
everything was ready, would call me aside and say, 
4 Come here, be a good boy, keep perfectly still, go 
straight out of this, and make no noise.' Thus, I 
remember being turned out into the kitchen, and 
how my hand doubled in perfect indignation. I can 
yet feel the scalding tears as I paced back and forth. 



68 THE TEUE PATS. 



WRONG TREATMENT. 



"There is no pleasant remembrance about this 
treatment. Don't ask your friends to come to your 
house at the expense of your children. If there 
are no chairs, so that they can be seated at the table, 
I suggest, that the old folks go out and wait until 
the children have eaten. 

" On the occasion referred to I kept walking back 
and forth in great restlessness. Often I came to the 
door and put my ear to it that I might in some way 
enjoy the laughter and talking. There was a little 
latch across, and it would open if it was touched. 
Finally patience ceasedr to be a virtue, and the latch 
was touched, whereupon the door opened. At this, 
some of the friends noticed me, and beckoned to me 
to come into the room. I entered very cautiously, 
for if my dear mother had caught me she would 
have sent me back. The friends had gotten through 
eating and were quite merry over their drink. 

IRISH CUSTOM OP USING LIQUOR. 

" Much has been said about the Irish people 
drinking intoxicating liquor ; but, if you were ac- 
customed to the ways in old Ireland, you would say 
very little about it. If half a dozen friends met 
together they had to have a drop of the crater, of 
course ; they couldn't get along without it. A man 
would be considered mean unless he had it on special 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 59 

occasions upon his table; and no man likes to be 
called stingy. There is something fascinating to an 
Irishman in the thought that he is a liberal man, 
and that his friends will say of him : ' I would like 
to repeat my visit to his house; what beautiful 
whiskey ; what splendid wine ; it was glorious.' 

APPETITE FOR LIQUOR FIRST FORMED. 

" My friend would take his glass in his hand ; he 
was a dear friend of our family ; and, adding a 
little water to the whiskey, would place it in my 
hand as I stood by his side. I remember of my 
looking up in his face and sipping it from a tea- 
spoon. Thus I first learned to love the taste of 
liquor. It was there the appetite was first formed. 
It was there the seeds of intemperance were sown 
which cursed and made a wreck of me thousands 
of miles from my native land. 

A WAY THAT IS NOT THE " TRUE PATH." 

" In justice to the memory of my beloved mother — 
who loved me as affectionately as your parents have 
loved you — I •will say, there is a way that seemeth 
right to many of us, but the end thereof is death." 

LIMITED EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 

The family was to a considerable extent deprived 
of educational advantages. On account of its reli- 



60 THE TRUE PATH. 

gion, the doors of the national schools were closed 
against the children ; and there was no remedy, ex- 
cept in the somewhat indifferent arrangements pro- 
vided, at times, in the parishes, by the priesthood. 
In these, the authority of the school -master was 
often unrestrained — which means that the method 
and extent of the instruction depended largely on 
his taste, temperament and caprice. And, to these, 
the Murphys had recourse. 



A " PIGGY-BACK FLOGGING. 

On one occasion, young Francis greatly offended, 
in some way, the austere man of the birch, and was 
made to feel the extent of his anger. In violent 
tone he was ordered from his seat, and astraddle the 
back of one of the larger boys in the school. In 
this, what is known among most American children 
as " piggy-back " position, having his legs held 
firmly about the body on which he was mounted, he 
was most mercilessly walloped and welted. The 
quick and willowy rod cut through the air, until it 
seemed well-filled with low, crisp whistles ; and 
it fell with visible effect upon the tfghtly covered 
rump of Francis, who struggled and fretted terribly 
under the infliction. 

This was an event and scene that could not fail 
of a lasting impression upon the youth. Aside from 
his corporeal suffering, his mind was filled with 
thoughts of the great public disgrace that had be- 



GOSPEL TEMPEEANCE. 61 

fallen him. The words of Addison were true to the 
letter, and commended themselves most perfectly to 
the situation : 



' When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, 
The post of honor is a private station." 



OUTRAGEOUSLY DEALT WITH. 

He was not accustomed to severity of this kind 
in the little cottage at the hill. There, he was also 
a subject of discipline, at times, but had not to con- 
tend with the two- fold punishment of physical pain 
and public exposure. There, he knew that, what- 
ever of castigation was administered, and however 
severe in its character, behind it were only purposes 
of kindness and love. 

While he continued at school he carried with him 
constantly the conviction that he had been out- 
rageously dealt with, and often appeared to worry 
under an uncontrollable longing to resent, at some 
time or other, the gross inhumanity. 

Not long since, in a speech, in which Mr. Murphy 
took occasion to refer to the power of kindness, he 
not only recited this incident, but made the declara- 
tion that, of all the wrong he had ever endured at 
the hands of any one, this seemed the greatest, and 
hardest to forget, and that, notwithstanding the 
flight of time, and change in his experience, he 
found it "an act most difficult to forgive." 
4 



62 THE TRUE PATH. 



EFFECT OF UNKINDNESS AND INJUSTICE. 

And the illustration he thus employed, we may 
well heartily commend to the attention of our 
readers. It merits something of serious thought. 
There is often much of injury done the dependent 
creatures of households through want of careful 
judgment in the exercise of authority. When chil- 
dren have advanced to years not only of consider- 
able discretion, but have also become imbued with 
a sense of honor and manhood — the very qualities 
that should be most sacredly guarded and trained — 
the first show of injustice and attempt at degrada- 
tion should be abhorred. To maltreat and deal with 
youth as if they were little in advance of the brute, 
is to dwarf their natures, and disqualify them more 
for an honorable place in life. Unkindness and in- 
justice, steadily practiced upon tender people, soon 
fasten themselves upon the whole being as a disease — 
one of an aggravated and despicable kind. In the 
words of Milton : 

" The soul grows clotted by contagion, 
Imbodies and imbrutes, till she quite lose 
The divine property of her first being." 

There is another phase of this subject. The un- 

kindnesses o£youthhood are not apt to be forgotten. 
They may never find expression in the after life, but 
far back in the secret and sacred vaults of the mem- 
ory they are kept. Often in the hour of solitude, — 



GOSPEL TEMPEEANCE.. 63 

and after the perpetrators are buried forever from 
human sight, however near to us by consanguinity — 
we thumb over, in our thoughts, the various circum- 
stances, until we shrink at the sudden truth that 
our love for their memories is becoming chilled ; 
then, hurriedly, we put back the little biographical 
scraps, and sigh and grow sad. 

" AN ACT MOST DIFFICULT TO FORGIVE." 

How worthy the attention, also, the thoughts fur- 
nished us in the statement of Mr. Murphy that, even 
now, he found it " an act most difficult to forgive." 
After all these years — at least twenty-five — and all 
his chequered experience ; after the change of heart, 
by which the things that he once loved he now 
hates, and vice versa ; after the full development of 
the faculties of his soul into an exhibition of kind- 
ness and humanitarianism that invites universal ap- 
plause, — after all this, in the fullness of his soul, he 
is forced to the confession that the prominent atrocity 
we have referred to, as part of his school-boy expe- 
rience, is " an act most difficult to forgive." 

LONGING FOR A FREER AIR. 

Everything in young Murphy's experience in- 
fluenced him toward a broader, and different life. 
He was now rapidly on his way to maturity. His 
mind was taking a new shape. A particular wish 
had been forming, and was pressing quite heavily 



64 THE TRUE PATH. 

upon him. Often, standing in the door of the cot- 
tage at eventide, and drinking in the fragrance of 
the flowers his own hands had planted, did he con- 
template the grandeur of the world before him ; and 
often, too, yearn for a larger experience in the battle 
of life than his home could possibly afford him. 
As the great vessels, with their valuable freights — 
both of life and property — passed and repassed, he 
longed for a freer air than that about him. He had 
•heard of the wonderful country more than three 
thousand miles away, in which vast numbers of the 
sons and daughters of Ireland had found a pros- 
perous and happy home, and fancied that every 
ship passing out toward the channel carried men 
and women from a land of oppression to one of 
almost unlimited freedom. 

When once the chains of slavery, however neatly 
and humanely fashioned, enwrap a people, the very 
children contract an inordinate desire to escape in 
some way their condition. And the more they are 
denied, through poverty, or any other cause, their 
ardent wishes, the more will they aspire to the very 
highest and most unrestrained kind of personal 
liberty. 

AN IMMOVABLE PURPOSE. 

Far out upon the water the silken sails were fre- 
quently seen, and never failed to secure the atten- 
tion of our embryo lecturer. The well known desti- 
nation of many of them excited anxious thoughts 



. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 65 

within him, and their easeful and graceful motion 
lulled his whole nature into an immovable purpose. 
His home had great attractions to one so tender in 
his attachments ; his mother had a deep and firm 
hold upon his affections ; and the remnant of the 
family were dear to him. Yet, his soul was, as a 
caged bird, looking away from its confinement into 
an atmosphere better suited to its requirements and 
nature. 

EMPLOYED AT A CASTLE. 

After a little time, a position was obtained by our 
subject, with his mother's landlord, in a neighbor- 
ing castle, in which he was able to earn something 
for himself. His compensation was small, and his 
place one that did not satisfy either his own am- 
bition, or the judgment of his mother. Neverthe- 
less, upon the very sensible and popular axiom that 
" half a loaf is better than no bread," he was induced 
to engage in the service of others. 

In his position he was subjected to duties and 
treatment not in harmony by any means with his 
views. He was but a servant, and as such felt it 
his lot to endure patiently something of indignity. 
When his master was upon his best behavior, and 
free from the effects of his favorite stimulant, the 
lad knew well the importance of remaining within 
the narrow limits of his position and round of 
duties ; and was ever conscious of the necessity for 
a regard for the manners peculiar to the air of 



W THE TRUE PATH. 

landed property in his country. But, when his 
master had imbibed pretty freely, and entered upon 
what he considered a canty time, then the bright- 
eyed young servant became the companion and 
equal, and shared in the heating potions of his liege, 
until both were beyond their boundaries, con- 
siderably. 

Thus, being near his home, and enabled to put in 
an appearance occasionally at the little cottage, 
where alone he met with a hearty reception, and 
substantial feelings of interest, his family learned of 
the temptations and trials by which he was sur- 
rounded, and felt keenly his danger. 

Nor were they unnecessarily suspicious, as the 
result fully proves. For, since the advent of Mr. 
Murphy in America, the landed owner alluded to 
has become disposessed of all his valuable estates, 
and been reduced to absolute penury aud wandering, 
all through persistent inebriety. While the lord of 
the castle has fallen from a high place, on account 
of yielding to a debased appetite, his servant has 
risen to even a loftier and infinitely more honorable 
one, by breaking away from the same slavery, and 
fighting to enfranchise others. 

This is but the old story. It has ever been so. 
When will men learn wisdom ? When will the 
lives that have been wrecked all along the by-ways 
of time, and dotting the most dangerous paths, as 
the suspended icicles do the eaves of our roofs, serve 
as sufficient warnings to others? Why will men 
knowingly press on to destruction — sure, and 






GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 67 

speedy? There is no exception to the rule, that 
they who adhere to the cup must be bitten, be 
poisoned, and eventually destroyed. 

While holding his position at the castle, young 
Murphy continued, as occasion offered — and often 
at twilight — his meditations in front of the cottage. 
He gazed long and fondly upon the far-stretching 
billows, until there would rise within him the irre- 
pressible desires that seemed to be feeding upon his 
very vitals. Surely his drudgery must soon end. 

A DIFFICULT TASK. 

Early had he learned to confide his plans and pur- 
poses to his mother. He knew full well of her trust 
in God, and her love for her children. Therefore 
his very thoughts were ever impulsively, and with- 
out timerity, poured into the maternal ear, and thus 
his secrets confided to his best of earthly friends. 
And she, on the other hand, had ever encouraged 
this. Being full of concern for the welfare of her 
boy, she gladly reasoned and counselled with him in 
all things — striving to point out for him the most 
dangerous thickets and by-ways in the path of life, 
as she, in her circumscribed way, was best able to 
discern them. 

But now, all this was somewhat changed. He 
had less disposition to unbosom himself to his mother 
than ever before. Never, within the range of his 
experience, had he felt so much of misgiving. He 
had already conversed with her, in a general way, 



08 THE TEUE PATH. 

upon the s abject of emigrating to the New World; 
but now there was something decisive near at hand 
— the great, and particular event, he believed, of his 
whole life. 

He was scarcely equal to his task. Could he, 
even by an act of justice and seeming necessity, 
bring tears to the eyes, and aches to the heart, and 
shadows to the life of that mother, who had been to 
him the dearest of all human substance and bless- 
ing ? Could he stretch the greatest and holiest of 
all human ties to their fullest capacity of endurance ? 
We shall see ! 



CHAPTER VI. 

COMING TO AMERICA. 

Young Murphy had already crossed the thresh- 
hold of his sixteenth year. His ambitious resolves 
had expanded to their utmost tension. The golden 
dreams of many months, if not of some years, he 
felt would, at least, ere long be realized. He was 
now only awaiting a suitable time when, with the 
consent of his mother, he could plant his feet upon 
one of the many vessels steering out toward the 
setting sun. 

The days were growing more and more weari- 
some, as he failed to solve the wish and will of her 
whom he loved. He could endure the suspense no 
further. More than this, an excellent opportunity 






GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 69 

presented itself — one that to him seemed especially 
desirable. Permission must be sought at once, and 
obtained, if possible. Nerving himself to the task, 
he stepped before his mother, and looking up into 
her face, with an anxiety she could not but readily 
discern, said, — " I should like to be permitted to go 
to America." 

THE DECISION. 

It was the work of a moment. But, then, it was 
also the work of a life. To the son, that moment 
was freighted with the highest of worldly interests. 
To the mother, it was a struggle scarcely second to 
any other in her history. Yet, it was but the work 
of a moment on the part of both. The boy saw 
only the fair shores, beauteous homes, and free hills 
and vales of the far-off land to which his soul was 
leaping as a hart. The mother saw her boy — his 
somewhat gloomy prospects at home— her increasing 
years and cares — the heel of what seemed to her to 
be the oppressor ; — and then, her great heart, widen- 
ing to the occasion, ready to endure every sacrifice 
for his good ; — then, though it crushed her, she de- 
cided for him. It was done. 

A SELF-SACRIFICING WOMAN. 

Noble mother 1 Our heart goes out to her even 

now. It matters not what her disadvantages or 

difficulties in life, we have both admiration and 

love for such matrons, wherever found. 
4* 



70 THE TRUE PATH, 

Men have appended the words, " a demi-god " to 
the names of many who were good and great in the 
annals of both public and private history. But such 
women are above our demi-gocls. They near abso- 
lute divinity. They will allow the chords about 
their hearts to snap one after another rather than 
sacrifice a morsel of the real interests of those who 
have drunk the life-blood from their own veins. 

Noble mother ! They who have not had such, 
are miserably poor, in comparison, however fortune 
has otherwise smiled upon them. The memory of 
such a mother is dearer and sweeter far, though she 
has passed into the heavens, than all the most mel- 
lowing effects of the subsequent years, filled with 
kindness and attention. 

We may speak of the sublime natures of wives 
and daughters, whose lives have been prolific in 
sacrifices and exalted devotion ; but, it is not until 
they rise to the high and holy place of faithful 
Christian mothers, that they attain to their highest 
distinction. " There's no love like a mother's love," 
greets us often in the household ; and while, from 
the love we bear the companions of our bosoms, we 
cannot, perhaps, at the moment, repeat the words ; 
yet, we bow humbly our heads, and wipe away the 
tear of memory. Nor can our dear companions, but 
honor our emotion, as they behold their children 
around their forms lovingly calling them " mother ! " 

Noble mother, we must exclaim, yet again ! 
Would that we could place on record a more fitting 
tribute to the divine action. Surely, just where men 



GOSPEL TEMPERANC*E. 71 

are too feeble to give proper expression to the over- 
flowing impulses of their souls, when kindled into 
activity by such beings, there does the recording 
angel take up his pen, open the great book of eter- 
nity, and begin to indite the record of their worth. 
How could men other than of great hearts — of 
almost boundless sympathies — but descend from 
such a woman ? How could the offspring of such, 
ever, under the guiding eye of God, be allowed to 
fall into the pit of destruction ? 

CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE EVENT. 

But, it may be well here to employ the words of 
Mr. Murphy in relation to the event referred to: — 
" I shall never forget," said he, " my mother's coun- 
tenance, when I looked into her face, and presented 
my request. Dear soul, she could hardly speak to 
me. Her eyes quickly filled up, and her lips parted 
so strangely. She said, ' Yes, I think it will be best 
for you to go, my boy.' " 

As has already been shown, there was little or no 
hope for the Murphy children. The position of the 
family, and the condition of the country, almost 
totally shut them from anything like a fair prospect 
in life. The merest servitude was before them, and 
that was even not to be depended upon at all times. 

The mother, in her great disquietude of mind, 
shortly after the foregoing interview, called at the 
castle about which her son was employed, and ear- 
nestly conversed with him. She appeared greatly 



72 •thetkuepath. 

moved, and her conversation betrayed the depth of 
the current of feeling that was stirred. After a 
slight pause, she said, in a somewhat subdued, but 
firm tone, " I would like to have you come home, 
and spend the last week with me." 

Of course, to this request Francis yielded. He 
could not do otherwise. And, when the last hour 
of his toil closed, he eagerly set his face toward the 
old home. It was evident, however, that the real 
nature of the step he was taking now began to ap- 
pear to him — doubtless, for the first time. He 
thought of his mother — of her faithfulness to all 
that concerned him, of her many exhibitions of deep 
love, of the possibility that he should never see her 
again, and many similar things — until his heart 
grew heavy, and the well-known voice greeted him 
at the cottage door. 

We will not, of ourselves, attempt to invade the 
privacy of the following week. That is a task that 
belongs alone to the only remaining witness, and he 
has freely a*nd eloquently opened his heart to the 
public, in the premises. We will now advert to his 
own story : — 

LAST WEEK IN IRELAND. 

" I never shall forget that week. I can see my 
mother going backward and forward through the 
house. Her time was chiefly spent in making the 
needful preparations, and packing up for me. And 
when she would lift up the clothes and look at them, 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 73 

I could see the'tears running down her cheeks. She 
would look at me awhile, as if in deep thought and 
solicitude, and then silently walk away. I thank God 
for the memory of that week at home. It has been 
a great blessing to me. I was only sixteen years of 
age ; yet, blessed be G-od, the memory of that home, 
that face and that voice, is still fresh and sweet in 
my heart. 

THE LAST NIGHT. 

" And then, the last night came, before I was to 
leave. It was the custom in old Ireland, when a 
man was passing his last night at home, to send for 
his friends. But mother said, ' My son, I should 
like to be alone with you this last night.' There 
was no person invited. My trunk was partly packed 
and there were some clothes placed upon the bureau 
alongside of my trunk. My mother said to me, 
4 get your chair and sit with me here to-night.' 
And she took her seat by the table with her head 
resting upon her hand. Sometimes she would lift 
up her head and look into my face, and then drop 
it down upon her bosom and place her hands across 
her breast. I could see her struggle to control her 
grief. We sat there until it was one o'clock at 
night, and I don't think there were twenty words 
spoken between us. Mother finally arose from her 
chair and said to me, ' My son, I think I will try 
and finish packing your trunk.' Never shall I for- 
get that voice as she arose from the chair. She 



74 THE TRUE PATH. 

spoke, so strangely. She walked over to where the 
trunk was, looked into it, and then reached over to 
the clothes on the bureau, and placed them in it. 
She smoothed them down with great care. When 
the last garment was placed in it, it was all the dear 
soul could do to stand up again. Afterward, she 
raised up from her stooping position over the trunk, 
and walking to the window watched for the car- 
riage that was to come for her boy. When I was 
ready to start, mother stood with her back to me, 
and I could see her trembling. 

THE MOTHER'S BLESSING. 

" I had not yet received her blessing. It was really 
about all she could give me, dear soul. You can 
hardly find a countryman of mine in America who 
would not prize his mother's blessing. I think some- 
times Americans do not value the parental blessing 
enough. For my mother to. put her hand on my 
head, and say, ' God bless you,' was a great deal to 
me. I arose from my seat and walked up to where 
mother was, and putting my arms about her neck, 
said, 'mother, now give me your blessing before I 
part from you.' I then knelt at her feet, and she, 
placing her loving hand upon my head, said, ' May 
the blessing of God go with you ; and may you re- 
member, my dear boy, that the same sun that shines 
on me shines on you ; that the same God that is 
watching over us in our humble home, will care for 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 75 

you in a strange country ; and ob, may you not for- 
get your mother.' " „ 

How touching this narrative. And, so full of 
interest does it seem in its brief recital that, it savors 
more of romance than of real life among the hum- 
ble poor in Ireland. Yet it has the stamp of strange 
truth upon it. No fiction could be more so. It 
commends itself to the kindly sympathy and ad- 
miration of every Christian reader. Yea, more, it 
teaches us something of real and permanent value. 
It brings to our minds that honored custom, of the 
' patriarchal times, the bestowal of parental blessing — 
the importance of which is lost sight of in these 
days of extended commerce, hurried speculation, 
constant immersion in business and consequent ne- 
glect of spiritual training in families — and shows 
how that, where religion has not been smothered 
out, there is a natural disposition of soul to adhere 
to it; proving also to our judgment that, under 
God's providence, there is enough merit in, to make 
a necessity for, it. 

The effect of this last occurrence upon Francis 
Murphy was none other than would be upon most 
young persons under similar circumstances. In 
reference to it he has said, "I can say without 
hesitation, if ever a young man left his home with 
a fixed determination to prove a blessing to his 
mother in her declining years, that young man was 
myself. I expected to make her life radiant with 
sunshine." 



76 THE TRUE PATH. 



THE SEPARATION. 

The moments of deep suspense were now about to 
close. The time for the arrival of the conveyance, 
which was to bear the son away to a landing at 
some distance from the cottage, had arrived. A 
few moments later and its rumbling was becoming 
more and more distinct in the descending road-way. 
Soon it reached the cottage. The well-filled trunk 
was speedily placed in position, and Francis and his 
mother bade adieu to each other for a time — yea, 
as the sequel shows, forever upon earth. 

Had the mother known the bitter experience of 
many years which awaited her beloved boy in this far- 
off favored land ; had she seen how that the slavery 
of alcohol in our free government can be even more 
terrible in its effects than that of a tyrant in any 
European monarchy ; and how that her son was only 
hastening to deeper bondage, — her soul would have 
sank within her, and her arms would have refused 
to separate from the last embrace. 

But it is well that foresight is the prerogative of 
Divinity, and separate from our' finite minds ; that 
we are not unfitted for our present enjoyments by 
our knowledge of the future, so often pregnant with 
calamity and direst experiences ; and that we can 
not only be. shut out from all imaginary trials, but 
also rise above all real bitterness, and look above 
the coming years into the beyond, through the eye 
of faith. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 77 

Speedily the carriage rolled away with — to that 
trembling, solicitous soul bowed beneath its weight of 
sorrow, and weeping in the doorstead of the little 
thatched cottage— its world of precious freight. Sad, 
truly, are such separations. They cannot but beget 
in every devout Christian heart, as they are doubt- 
less intended to, a desire for the time when there shall 
be no more going in and out forever. We can bow 
reverently before the feelings of that woman ; and, 
can also realize a sense of anguish, in view of the 
years before that youthful emigrant. Poor mother ! 
Poor boy ! 

THE VOYAGE. 

In a little while young Murphy reached the place 
where the vessel, along with many others, lay, in 
which he was soon to set sail. A boatman was 
hard by whose duty it was to place him on board. 
This was done with due speed, as all hands ap- 
peared eager for the voyage. After the further 
lapse, however, of about two hours — occasioned, 
perhaps by the delay of freights — the orders were 
rapidly issued to the hands on deck, and the ship 
was loosed from her moorings. 

At this point was the subject of our biography 
first favored with the sight of a tug-boat — a preten- 
tious looking little thing which steamed up and 
hitched fast to the vessel. The purpose, evidently, 
was to pilot it into the channel, and thence into the 
sea. 



78 THE TEUE PATH. 

The voyage was soon fully entered upon, and out 
on the bosom of the pathless ocean — now, riding 
majestically against the waves that beat upon her 
bows, and then ascending the mountainous billows, 
and plunging downward again into the watery 
trough — rode the ship, with its numerous emigrants, 
bearing to our shores, and his destiny, the humble 
Irish lad, who, in the coming time, should marshal 
the most gigantic and successful of all temperance 
reforms known to history. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ON THE SEA AND IN THE NEW WORLD. 

Those who are accustomed to the conveniences 
and comparative comforts of a voyage from New 
York, or Philadelphia, to Liverpool, or elsewhere, 
as afforded by our modern and elegantly furnished 
steamers — occupying usually not more than two 
weeks, from port to port — can have no conception 
of the annoyances and tediousuess peculiar to emi- 
grant life at sea. Nothing could be more repugnant, 
to a naturally good taste, than the manners, habits 
and associations uniformly encountered ; and these, 
too, for the protracted period, usual to packet ships 
and barks, in coming from the ports of the Irish 
sea to this country. 

Young Murphy's spirit of adventure was most 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 79 

probably not increased or intensified by the entour- 
age. On the contrary, many circumstances must 
have contributed their quota toward creating in him 
a spirit of depression and great weariness. His 
thoughts were as apt to fiy backward to the Wexford 
home, as forward to the one his imagination had 
reared. His experience was far from what he had 
expected ; as far, it may be, as was that of his later 
years — up to the time of his escape from the slavery 
of intemperance. 

After a sail of seven weeks and three clays, the 
much-longed-for shores lay before the vessel. It 
had at least reached its destination. The great city 
of New York loomed up ; and nearly all on board 
seemed to regard the objects of prominence, as they 
stretched away toward the sky, with strained eyes 
and bated breaths. No one on board felt more ex- 
ultant than Francis Murphy. His somewhat seclu- 
ded and narrowed life at home made the countless 
things before him doubly interesting. His heart 
beat quickly, and his joy, at being able to step upon 
the land of his choice, could scarcely be restrained. 

The passengers and their baggage were transferred 
by boat to the land. Upon the counsel and invita- 
tion of a man, whose acquaintance young Murphy 
had made, he directed his steps toward a hotel. He 
had given himself and his checks into the charge of 
the person in question, and with him soon reached 
his first stopping place — a tavern. Here suitable 
rooms were found, and, unfortunately, something of 
genial companionship. 



80 THE TRUE PATH, 



DRINKING AND TREATING. 

One of the first of the youth's acts was to yield to 
the temptation to take a drink. Stepping into the 
bar-room, with his newly made friend, he called for 
''something to take." This appeared, at the time, 
to be about the most convenient term for any kiud 
of liquor. In the old country they drank by the 
" noggin " — or, in the old Irish, " noigin " — which 
was a mug 5 or wooden cup, and about equal in 
measure to a gill. Our youth was ready to adapt 
himself freely to his new surroundings. 

A hearty indulgence now commended itself to 
young Murphy, in view of his safe deliverance from 
the perils of the deep ; and, like thousands of others, 
instead of lifting his heart in thankfulness, he robbed 
Jehovah of the glory due, and bestowed it freely 
upon the devil. 

Drink after drink and treat after treat followed, 
and Frank, and Tim, and Jim, and the bar-keeper 
kept on successively at " setting them up," until 
things became so mixed that the track of the whole 
business was eventually lost. The fact was that, at 
his home in Ireland, our lad knew little or nothing 
of the queer effects of American " tangle-foot," even 
at that day, and he somewhat innocently — rather, 
ignorantly — drank to his confusion. 

TURNED OUT UPON THE WORLD. 

The liberality manifested by our Irish lad, and 
his fondness for tippling had won the kindly at ten- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 81 

tion — for, either the word respect, or esteem, would 
be a misnomer — of the landlord. Through the 
space of just about one week his drinking had con 
tinued, when suddenly he was brought to a round 
turn by the fact that his money was all gone. Of 
course, this soon became known to his host. But, 
encouraged by the cordial interest shown him, young 
Murphy believed that all would go well with him. 

It was not so. The friendship of the man, whose 
coffers took in, bit by bit, all the lad's change, was 
exhausted with the last piece spent at his bar. 
After but a brief parley the youth was turned out 
upon the world. 

Reason, and a decent regard for human nature, 
would have suggested that a smooth-faced stranger, 
without family or kin, should have had something 
of sympathy, attention and instruction — or rather, 
of protection and help. But he had fallen among 
evil friends — into hands unused to acts of kindness 
and charity. The business, which so largely preys 
upon our vitals as a nation, often influences its rep- 
resentatives to acts of rapacity, even upon the inno- 
cent and unwary. 

EVERYTHING GONE. 

Without a suitable home or friends, for three 
weeks our lad persisted in a course of inebriety. 
Not only was his money gone, but, at the end of 
this time, everything he had brought with him from 
across the ocean, was also beyond his reach. His 



82 THE TRUE PATH* 

situation was a most wretched one, and, as he began 
to realize the fact, and recover his wonted judg- 
ment, he saw the urgent necessity for some way of 
escape. Bat, the prospect was very slender, and he 
was exceedingly depressed* 

A SITUATION SECURED. 

Becoming, of necessity, quite sobered, he sought 
the interest and influence of several persons, through 
whose kindness he happily secured a situation. 

It was his purpose, now, to repair the mischief he 
had wrought, by replacing his most needful articles 
of dress. His face was in the right direction, and 
his intentions were apparently firm and good. 
Faithfully he entered upon his labor. 

But, ah, how vainly man proposes ! The youth 
knew not his true condition. His blood was 
poisoned, his taste perverted, and his whole being 
enslaved. The appetite for strong drink remained. 
He could not, and did not, continue to abstain from 
it for any length of time. 

Under such circumstances his life would, of course, 
be subjected to many changes, and they would 
quickly begin their round. Thus, he found it neces- 
sary, in a little time, to seek employment elsewhere. 

OFF TO CANADA. 

In obedience to the advice of a friend, he con- 
cluded to go to Quebec, Canada, in the hope of 
filling an engagement of a certain kind. But For- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 83 

tune did not seem to smile upon him, and he was 
obliged to turn his attention to some other point. 
His scanty" funds were now nearly exhausted, and 
he could not very well return to the States, therefore 
he concluded to go to Montreal and seek employ- 
ment. Soon after his arrival he obtained a position 
at a hotel, such an one as would, at least for a time, 
satisfy his necessities, if not indeed his tastes. 

After retaining his place, for the space of between 
one and two years, he was finally obliged to re- 
linquish it, on account of his drinking habits. In 
this strait, he could not very well expect favor in 
the land of St. George's Cross, therefore he deter- 
mined to re-enter the country of his choice. 

AT FARM WORK. 

Removing to the State of New York, he found 
himself compelled to engage at farm work. His 
duties were arduous, and his remuneration very 
light. Nevertheless, through industry, both at his 
labor, and in subduing somewhat his appetite for 
strong drink, he began to realize something of suc- 
cess. 

In reference to this period of his life he has said, 
"I was compelled to learn the profession of driving 
oxen on a farm ; and as a green Irish boy, with a 
goad in hand, I learned to talk to Buck and Bright." 
And in further allusion to this part of his experience 
he has remarked, "I have«seen a man laugh at me, 
while I was chopping a maple log. I was cutting 



84 THE TEUE PATS. 

a&ay, at a great rate, and thought I was doing 
splendidly, but every time I struck the log he would 
shout and laugh at me." Evidently, the youth had 
not entirely gotten away from his former habits, and 
was struggling between two loads — one in his head, 
and the other at his feet. 

GETS MARRIED. 

Finding his way, soon after, further into the coun- 
try, he. was enabled to overcome his appetite more 
perfectly, and took to a sober and circumspect life. 
Here, having a magnetism that few persons could 
excel him in, and manifesting the gallant tenden- 
cies of his countrymen, he became enamored of an 
intelligent and attractive young lady. In a short 
time his influence commanded the desired respect 
and affection, and he obtained the hand of the fair 
one. 

Young Murphy was now eighteen years of age, 
and married. His relations to the world were 
greatly changed, and his thoughts and purposes also 
had become more matured. He saw the necessity 
for a life of steadiness and industry, and applied 
himself with energy to his daily labor. Thus, 
through a period of some years — perhaps five, or 
six — he continued in New York State, toiling and 
accumulating, little by little. 

A CHRISTIAN WIFE. 

The young lady he had married proved to him a 
most valuable and tender companion, and had much 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 85 

to do with the success and continued sobriety of his 
life. She was a Christian in every sense of the 
word. She had been taught the ways of true wis- 
dom, having enjoyed the influences of religion, and 
was evidently possessed of faculties largely spirituel 
— such as we, at times, meet with, and recognize as 
much above the ordinary grade of character. 

To her he confided all his wishes and intentions, 
and from her received no little of counsel and di- 
rection, knowing well the value of her judgment, 
her most amiable nature, and her rigid regard for 
all his interests. 

The influence of so estimable a companion 
upon Mr. Murphy could not but be marked and 
unbounded. This has appeared on various occa- 
sions, in his public addresses. Eecently, he re- 
marked, to a large audience, a If you have a good 
Christian wife, consult her in all your business. 
Give her to feel that she is a partner in life with 
you ; that you are to work together ; and believe in 
each other, come what will. Hearts, thus joined to- 
gether by God's Holy Spirit, nothing should separate. 
There is no difficulty they cannot surmount ; no 
obstacle they cannot overcome. With faith in each 
other, and faith in God, they will come through all 
right." 

ARRIVAL OF A BROTHER. 

During these years of Mr. Murphy's experience,, 
an older brother came to America, and settled with 
5 



86 THE TRUE PATH. 

him for the time. This was quite a pleasing circum- 
stance to Francis, and gave him no little of encour- 
agement and ambition in his fixedness of living. 
He began to feel that he had an interesting and im- 
portant part in the great battle of life, and that he 
must act well now, if ever enduring success should 
crown his efforts - 



CHAPTER VIII. 

REMOVED TO PORTLAND. — A NEW BUSINESS. 

/ 

In due course of time, Mr. Murphy determined, in 
connection with his brother, to select some other 
place of residence; and, led by friendly considera- 
tions, fixed upon the city of Portland, Maine. 

Here, the brothers, filled with the idea of their 
peculiar adaptation to hotel-keeping, and the re- 
markably profitable nature of such busiuess, began 
to make especial drafts upon their enterprise. 
Francis bad his purposes well set upon a public 
life of that description, as the only and sure road 
to his ultimate success; but his heart, somehow, 
almost failed him, when he considered that his 
wife's consent might only be obtained with diffi- 
culty. He would not engage in it, however, until 
he had consulted the partner of his bosom. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 87 



HIS WIFE OPPOSED TO IT. 

When he presented her his project, she saw the 
consequences that would likely ensue, and opposed 
it. Her womanly instincts were averse to a busi- 
ness, from which, she had everything to fear, and 
nothing of either comfort or pleasure to gain. Her 
soul revolted at the thought of her husband having 
his old appetite aroused— for she had heard of his 
trials while in bondage to drink — and she looked 
with something of anxiety toward the little ones 
gathering about her. She would not yield her en- 
dorsement. But looking up into his face she said : 

" Frank, I would sooner beg for a living, in the 
streets of Portland, than to have you sell intoxica- 
ting liquor." 

The manner, the countenance, the words, the rare 
judgment, and the moral character of the woman, 
all spoke volumes to her husband, as she uttered 
these words. They were pronounced in firmness, 
and yet a cloud of sadness seemed to play about her 
clear white brow. 

ACTING ALONE. 

Here was a troublous thing. Mr. Murphy had 
tried to live in entire harmony and sympathy with 
his companion, and was accustomed to an exhibi- 
tion of respect for her opinions, although he did 
not always heed them. How could he, however, 
oppose her in this ? Certainly, he concluded, in so 



88 THE TKUE PATH. 

important a matter as his business, he should act 
alone, and assert his dignity as a man. 

There are plenty of such men. In matters that 
are all-important, and concern the general welfare 
of the family, they will be governed freely by the 
views of the loved ones — so long as a depraved taste 
is out of the question. But, let once this latter 
feature present itself, they will meanly retreat be- 
hind what they call " manhood " — a miserable con- 
dition of slavery to the carnal nature, that is want- 
ing in everything either dignified or respectable. 

A short time since, Mr. Murphy declared, in refer- 
ence to the event mentioned, " I consulted her out 
of courtesy, and if she did not endorse my way, I 
pursued it all the same. I never saw a man have 
occasion, in the end, to regret having consulted his 
wife. Men engaged in the sale of intoxicating 
liquor do not, in general, consult their wives. They 
think they are capable of managing their own busi- 
ness ; but their wives are worried to death by it, 
After all, there's nothing like a man taking his wife 
into his confidence, just as he has taken her into his 
heart. He should make her to feel that she is loved, 
and should consult, and be advised by, her in his 
business. Thus God's Spirit will both lead and help." 

BRADLEY HOUSE RENTED. 

The Murphy brothers persisted in their purpose 
and rented the Bradley House, on the corner of 
Commercial and India streets, with the purpose of 
having the family of Francis use it as a residence. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 89 

It was at once furnished in a comfortable way, and 
everything, looking to its speedy occupancy, accom- 
plished. 

WILL SELL LIQUOR " RESPECTABLY." 

Now, however, came the more unpleasant part of 
their arrangements. Mrs. Murphy was to be in- 
formed, her objections overcome, and herself and 
family to be brought to their new home. Francis 
at once advised her of his course, expressed the hope 
that she would give her consent to the removal, and 
by way of encouragement, said, " I am not going 
to make any effort to sell liquor, but I will only 
keep it for my customers and sell it respectably." 

This is a landlord's idea, the world over, when 
he has to confront his objecting friends, or answer a 
chiding conscience. He will sell liquor "respect- 
ably." We have heard of men swearing " respect- 
ably ;" of others robbing " respectably ;" and of still 
others gambling " respectably." But we have not 
seen any of it — nor have we been able to understand 
how it is done in that way. 

But, hear how Mr. Murphy, the reformer, replies' 
to the declaration of Mr. Murphy, the landlord : " It 
is an utter impossibility to sell liquor 4 respectably. 
It is the worst business under the sun. The finest 
of men, apparently, will come to you and say, ' Give 
me another drink.' You reply, ' You have enough !' 
The}^ then urge, 4 Don't I know my business ?' And 
thus you cannot refuse them without the dreaded 
quarrel." 



90 THE TRUE PATH. 



PROMISED HER NOT TO DRINK. 

To still further induce bis wife to acquiesce in his 
plans, Mr. Murphy promised her that he would not 
drink himself. 

This, of course, was a matter of importance to the 
faithful Christian wife and mother, in the event of 
her yielding to her husband, under protest. But, 
the nature made noble by the grace of God con- 
sidered not her immediate interests alone. It had 
also a proper esteem for those of others, for she 
bravely replied, "If you don't drink, yourself, some 
other people will take it !" 

How thoughtful and true ! She knew that, if her 
own heart did not mourn and break, because of 
cruelty and desolation in the home, from the use 
of villainous liquids, the hearts of other wives and 
mothers were endangered. And thus she fulfilled 
the law of Christ. 

AT HOME IN THE HOTEL. 

After a brief temporary delay, during which the 
needful disposition of furniture was made, Mr. 
Murphy called with a carriage for his wife and chil- 
dren, and took them to their new abode. While 
going through the rooms, he inquired : 

" How do you like it, wife ?" 

" I suppose I shall have to like it !" was the reply, 
as a singular expression of intense sadness crossed 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 91 

her face. She knew that her husband had spent his 
money in fitting np the place, and that there was 
no help for her. 

" Don't be concerned, I am not going to take in- 
toxicating liquors," argued her husband. 

" Somebody else will drink," was the quick re- 
sponse, as on the previous occasion. 

A GENUINE CONVERT. 

Mr. Murphy need have furnished no other inci- 
dent, nor have added one word more, to prove the 
Christian character and womanly worth of his com- 
panion. She was evidently a genuine convert to 
our holy religion. 

And, as has been said, there are hundreds of just 
such women to-day, who, through tears and sighs 
and prayers, are struggling at the throne of the 
heavenly grace in behalf of their husbands and sons, 
that they may be lead from the debasing traffic in 
rum to an honorable and righteous life. 

BUSINESS SUCCESSFUL. 

Thus began the career of Francis Murphy, at 
Portland, as a hotel-keeper. In a little time quite a 
lively business was transacted. The enterprise was 
a decided success, and the brothers were elated with 
their prospects. 

In the progress of time, the elder brother, becom- 
ing wearied of the business, declined in favor of 



92 THE TRUE PATH. 

Francis, who was now left in sole possession. His 
success was assured, and he became financially pros- 
perous. 

A WRECK AT LAST. 

For a period of about ten years Mr. Murphy con- 
tinued in the proprietorship of the hotel. But dur- 
ing this time he fell under the assaults of the demon 
of strong drink. Toward the close of it he became 
so fond of his u grog," that he grew careless of his 
customers, neglected his business, and gradually lost 
the accumulated savings of years. Fiually, his hotel 
was closed upon him, and he was turned out, with 
his family, a wretched drunkard. 

MANNER, OF HIS RUIN. 

When he began his business, he did not expect to 
fall ; but was of the conviction that he had the most 
complete control of himself. Diligently for a time 
did he observe the promise given his wife. But 
eventually the temptation of his business proved too 
much for him. Friends — comprising a circle to 
which he became greatly attached — would call at 
his place and urge him to indulge with them. 

" Don't ask me to drink, it is impossible," was the 
invariable response. 

" Come on, let us have a drink," plead they. 

"Remember my wife and children," was offered 
as the last and most potent excuse. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 93 

" Take a little ale, then," was urged. 

Finally, the glass of ale was taken, and, according 
to his own declaration, " It was that glass of ale 
that sealed Frank Murphy's fate." In regard to it 
he has also added, " If I had not tasted it, I would 
be willing to part with my strong right arm." 

This step taken, Mr. Murphy's fall began. He 
soon took another, and another, and so on, until his 
old habits and appetite were in full sway upon him. 
His wife speedily detected the misfortune, and felt 
its heavy weight, but did not utter words of un- 
kindness. She was not given to scolding, or censure, 
and preferred to bear, meekly and patiently, her 
trials, rather than wound, even when merited. 

Following the loss of his hotel, Mr. .Mnrphy 
entered the saloon or boarding-house business in a 
limited way. But, the blighting effects of liquor 
prevented him from meeting with anything of pros- 
perity. 

a man's neck broken. 

On one occasion, an intoxicated man entered his 
house, and insisted upon going up stairs. The bar- 
keeper refused to allow this. After a momentary 
effort, the man broke away, and hurrying up the 
steps, met Mr. Murphy at the top. A few hasty 
words followed, whereupon the two engaged in a 
scuffle, during which both fell and rolled to the 
floor below. Mr. Murphy was not hurt, but the 

m 5* 



94 THE TRUE PATH. 

assailant was picked up dead — his neck having 
been broken in the fall. 

Mr. Murphy was arrested immediately after the 
occurrence, and was subsequently tried and acquit- 
ted. The occurrence proved quite a misfortune to 
the family pecuniarily, as also a source of deep 
sorrow. 

CONTINUOUS DISSIPATION. 

From the time of the liberation of Mr. Murphy 
he continued his acts of dissipation. His family 
were now reduced to a condition of constant anguish 
and suffering. In the midst of his carousals, his 
little boy would come to him at times, near the hour 
of midnight, and plead with him to return to his 
mamma. Then, perhaps, accompanying the child, 
he would seek and enter his wretched home, and 
find the pallid face of his wife resting upon her 
hand,- while her eyes seemed to be pouring intently 
over the Word of God. The words, it might be, 
would quietly drop from her lips, " I wish you would 
stop drinking." To this the answer was promptly 
given, and perhaps a trifle curtly, " I wish I could," 
followed with a long and burdensome silence. 

The picture seems a dark one. Surely it will 
awaken sympathy wherever pondered. But the 
reader cannot form a reasonable conception of its 
real nature, any more than he can look into the 
hearts and lives of that family and see the various 
lights and shades, in all their intensity of character, 
through which they have successively come. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 95 

Here, Francis Murphy, the husband and father, 
is a common drunkard, a burden to his family and 
society, and without a friend outside his poor 
family. There is not one to be found, in the city of 
Portland, who will say a word in extenuation of his 
course. He is even notably degraded in the eyes of 
those who hold loosely every principle of sobriety. 
Surely the community can abide such a man no 
longer. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ARM OF THE LAW TO BE INVOKED. 

We are now called upon to record an event in the 
life of Mr. Murphy of more than ordinary import- 
ance. Strong drink had done its worst. Its power 
was to be stayed by the strong arm of the law. In 
a crushed and neglected home were a wife and chil- 
dren whose claims upon public sympathy could not 
be totally ignored. They were at least approaching 
deep trial — having endured much of mental anguish 
already — through the persistent drunkenness of the 
husband and father. An effort must be made to 
check the mischief already done, and prevent further 
misfortune among the innocent. 

EVERYTHING LOST AND WITHOUT A FRIEND. 

It will interest the general reader to have placed 
before him the statements of Mr. Murphy in refer- 



96 THE TRUE PATH. 

ence to what followed. After detailing his experi- 
ence as an inebriate, he said : 

" I lost everything I owned in this world in the 
City of Portland. On the night of September 25th, 
1869, I was a bankrupt, without a dollar, and, I 
think I can say, without a friend. This is a good 
deal for a man to say. It is easy enough for a man 
to simply say that he has no friends ; but it is quite 
another thing for a man to feel it down deep in his 
heart. 

" When misfortune came my friends passed away. 
I then kept on drinking, trying thereby to forget 
the sorrows that had come upon me. I did not care 
much whether I lived or died. Even the men, who 
were engaged in the same business I had followed, 
gave me the cold shoulder. Generally speaking, if 
you have been respected in the liquor business, and 
become unfortunate, you will find a great gulf to 
come between those similarly engaged and yourself. 

" Some persons thought that the best thing they 
could do for me and my family would be to have 
me arrested and sent to the county jail for reforma- 
tion. Nevertheless, it has been to me one of the 
greatest crosses of my life. 

ARRESTED. 

" A countryman of mine, a wholesale liquor dealer, 
and Mr. Perry, the sheriff, came to my place, one 
day, and asked me to take a walk down the street 
with them. I did so, not knowing what their busi- 
ness with me was. The sheriff had been talking about 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 97 

* 

things of recent occurrence, when, suddenly, he 
said : 

" ' I have been requested to have you arrested.' 

" ' By whom, 5 I asked. 

" Thereupon he pulled a writ from his pocket, hav- 
ing the signatures of four men upon it. One of 
these was in the same business I followed, and, of 
course, had not the least sympathy with me. They 
did not come and talk with me in a manly way, but 
determined upon arresting me, like a dog, and thrust- 
ing me into a dark dungeon. I asked : 

" 4 Will you let me go and see my friend Patrick 
McClidgy.' 

" 4 Yes ; we will go with you to him,' was the reply. 

" McClidgy was a man I loved as truly as I did 
my own children. We had been drunk and sober 
together* We had, so-called, good times in asso- 
ciating together ; and I loved him. When we went 
and saw him, he said : 

" ' Take him away and lock him up, it's the best 
thing you can do for him.' 

" At this, it seemed to me my heart would break. 
It was about the hardest blow of my life." 

A CONFIDING MAN. 

We may here indulge profitably, perhaps, in a few 
reflections. Mr. Murphy is the very embodiment of 
genuine kindness and affection to his friends. He 
evidently is not the kind of nature that will desert 
a friend in the hour of his extremity, but, on the 



\)8 THE TRUE PATH. 

contrary, is rather eager to prove his faithfulness *at 
every opportunity. Such being the case, his soul 
revolts at the very thought of anything perfidious. 
To find faithlessness in a friend, would always be 
to him a matter of surprise, and intense sorrow. 
Having a make up that admits of the fullest exer- 
cise of confidence, and also spiritual faith, he cannot 
brook the want of these in any one whom his affec- 
tions cherish. 

Such a man is qualified for a grand Christian ex- 
perience and work. He is designed for a higher and 
better place than that of a saloon-keeper ; yea, 
more, than that of a successful business man. 
When the truth fully dawns upon him, and his 
heart is fixed on God, he will rapidly advance from 
grace to grace, and gift to gift, until his spiritual 
boundaries are widened to a capacity far above the 
average believer. 

The trial Mr. Murphy endured in this species of 
contact with a man, who was esteemed a dear friend, 
was but a link in the chain of events that was now 
being forged in the great foundry of the Almighty, 
for the purpose of separating forever the kingdom 
of the Prince of Darkness from the spiritual domain 
soon to be added to the government of the Son of 
God. He was thus to lose his trust in man, and, in 
the greatness of his soul, to seek a holier and more 
enduring repose for it. Experiences so deep and 
afflicting are uniformly pregnant with the most in- 
valuable blessings, and productive of the highest 
good, to every one who is not beyond the reach of 
hope. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 99 

But we will return to the statement furnished. 
Mr. Murphy continued : 

" My wife knew nothing of my arrest. My chil- 
dren were ignorant of it. The sudden misfortune 
to me had not yet reached their ears or hearts. 

THRUST INTO JAIL. 

" Soon we came to the dark door of the jail. It 
stood open and I stepped into it. ^ever shall I 
forget the first moment in which I entered the 
building. 

" I was thrust into the little dungeon of about six 
feet by three in size. It contained a little iron bed- 
stead, having upon it a pillow of straw and an army 
blanket stretched over it. Here thoughts of the 
past crowded upon me. The voice that came to me 
first was that of my sainted mother. I could see 
her sweet face and hear her once more. I thank 
God that it is utterly impossible to tear from the 
heart the memory of a good mother. Then, I could 
understand what the poet meant, in his beautiful 
language : 

" I hear a voice thou canst not hear, 
Which says thou shalt not stay ; 
I see a hand thou canst not see, 
Which beckons me away ! * 

DESERTED. 

" Yes, in the silence of that lone place, I could 
hear the old familiar voice. And there I remained, 



100 THE TRUE PATH. 

suffering all the terrible delirium that it is possible 
for a poor victim of intemperance to endure. Of 
course, I was shut away from the world. I was 
altogether deserted by everybody except my faith- 
ful wife and children. And may God bless these ; 
they never deserted me ; they never said an unkind 
word to me. Constantly, almost, they passed and 
repassed in review before me. 

" In this place I remained for a considerable time. 
It was evidently designed that I should have some- 
what of leisure with my thoughts. My condition 
was one of extreme sadness. But, eventually, I 
realized the truth of the lines : 

" ' God moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders to perform, 
He plants His footsteps in the sea, 
And rides upon the storm !' " 

Thus we have touchingly presented us the account 
by Mr. Murphy of his incarceration for habitual 
drunkenness. It is not only full of interest and in- 
struction, but thoroughly confirms all we have said 
of the remarkable character of the man. It shows 
how deep was the fountain of feeling within him 
for others, notwithstanding his wretched course as 
an inebriate. 

AN ERRONEOUS OPINION. 

There are great numbers of people around us who 
believe that a man, full of the milk of human kind- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 101 

ness, and having proper respect and love for his 
family, cannot possibly pursue such a course of dis- 
sipation as did Mr. Murphy ; that any one, of the 
nature and disposition we have accorded him, could 
not but revolt at such conduct, even in the very 
midst of the indulgence of his appetite. 

We differ from all such. In times of innocence, 
and thoughtlessness, the system becomes poisoned. 
A depraved taste is formed. This grows as fully 
into power over the man as do the most relentless 
and fatal fevers. And the men of kindness are 
among those most easily overcome by the malady. 
They may resist and struggle, but they are as 
unable to rise above their condition, as the fever 
patient is to overcome his, by physical effort. The * 
natural tenderness and affection of the man is of 
littlp avail. 

A FAULTY SYSTEM. 

In this view of the subject we are asked, " Why, 
if men are thus overcome, and irresponsible, do our 
statutes condemn and punish ?" We answer, for the 
reason that, in the present system of faulty govern- 
ment upon the liquor question, there seems to be no 
other remedy. The laws generally allow the liquors 
to be made and sold — therefore the distiller and 
dealer are under their protection. But the poor 
victim of these soul and body destroyers, are with- 
out the Least protection. He can go into the tavern, 
or saloon, and be legally poisoned and crazed, so that 



102 THE TRUE PATH. 

he morally ceases to be responsible, and yet be made 
to suffer the consequences of his irrational, criminal 
acts. When it can be shown, as has been, that out 
of one hundred per cent, of the murders in New 
York city, at least ninety-five per cent, are the re- 
sult of drunkenness, it becomes thinking men to in- 
quire whether it was really the man or the whiskey 
— the consumers, or the vendors and producers, who 
perpetrated the crimes. Surely, where the result is 
so overwhelmingly against liquor, the conclusion is 
unavoidable, that the wrong men were made to 
suffer. But, then, as matters stand, the creature of 
his appetite alone can be held to account. "We 
compassionate every culprit, however heinous his 
crime, who can truly plead drunkenness in palliation 
of his acts. To our mind, it is something of a valid 
plea, the press and people, generally, to the contrary, 
notwithstanding. 

WRONG IN PRACTICE. 

We are asked again, " Is not this^,n argument in 
favor of the Prohibitionists?" No, certainly not! 
They are right in principle, but unwise and indis- 
creet in practice. The few cannot control the 
many. Public sentiment cannot be outraged, by 
the only representatives of its voice and will, with 
impunity. It would be as easy to overcome the 
use and abuse of liquor, in the present condition of 
the popular mind, by legislative enactments, as to 
pull down the skies. It is an impossible thing, and 



GOSPEL TEMPEKANCE. 103 

the labors and arguments of the prohibitionists are 
not only ridiculous, but they greatly hinder, at a 
time like this, the devoutly to be wished for result. 
The masses must first be educated up to that point, 
at which the influence of the manufacturer, vendor 
and consumer is at a discount. 

In reference to this subject, and, at the risk of the 
charge of a partial digression, we will insert here 
the following extract from an able paper prepared 
by the venerable and estimable editor of the " Re- 
formed Church Messenger," Rev. Samuel R. Fisher, 
D. D., — a man who has throughout his life battled 
nobly against rum — and read before the Temperance 
Convention at Sea Grove, N. J., some time since : 

MUST 00 TO THE FOUNTAIN HEAD. 

"To get public sentiment right on this subject, 
we must, however humiliating the very thought, go 
back to first principles, as they prevailed in the 
earlier part of the campaign against intemperance. 
We must commence at the very fountain head of 
all public morals. The Church, God's great institu- 
tion and agency for moral reform, must be brought 
into its proper relation to the mighty evil, and in- 
duced to use its influence and power for its sup- 
pression. Not only its ministry, the organs of its 
divine functions, but its membership, also, should be 
prevailed upon to adopt the principle of abstinence 
from the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, 
and to enforce its observance by example as well as 
by precept. 



104 THE TRUE PATH. 

"The youth and children of the Church should 
likewise have the principle instilled into their minds 
by the training they receive in the family, and in the 
Sunday-School, as well as through the direct teach- 
ing of the Church. 

" I have no confidence in the success of any means 
employed for the promotion of public morals, though 
it may assume a Christian name, which professes to 
prosecute its work independent of the agency of the 
Church, or even by methods antagonistic to it. If 
the Church, the greatest fountain head of morals, be 
once fully brought into right relations to the evils 
of intemperance, the furtherance of the work of re- 
form will be greatly facilitated. And, until this 
be done, little of a substantial nature can be accom- 
plished. 

AUXILIARIES. 

"Other proper appliances, outside of the Church, 
must be brought to co-operate with it, and diligently 
employed to promote the same great end. These are 
the press, the public lecture, and the various tem- 
perance associations of a proper character. They 
cannot be. too diligently, or too faithfully, applied. 
They must not, however, be used in a way that 
would antagonize them to the Church, or place 
theni in an attitude that would indicate that they 
are intended to supersede or even supplement its 
functions. They are to be employed only as aux- 
iliary to it, in its efforts to accomplish its objects, as 
the great conservator of public morals. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 105 

" Much harm has been done to the cause, in the 
past, by failing to observe this principle, in the use 
of some of the appliances brought forward by the 
friends of Temperance for the suppression of the 
evils flowing from the use of intoxicating liquors." 

To all the sentiments, expressed in these para- 
graphs, we heartily subscribe. Tbey conform pre- 
cisely to the opinions generally held by the friends 
of Gospel reform. 

A SUFFERING FAMILY. 

But, we will return to Portland. The weary and 
anxious mind of- Mr. Murphy was almost constantly 
upon his household. ^Be realized their dependent 
condition, and the fact of their constant suffering. 
His soul agonized greatly in their behalf. His wife 
had borne him seven children — six of whom were 
about her and helpless. She was a patient, sincere 
Christian, but the ordeal through which she was 
passing, she felt, was too severe. 

And so it was. Mrs. Murphy saw constant dark- 
ness. Her faith in God had alone kept her thus 
far. But her care and trials were great, and beyond 
endurance. Physically she was breaking. The race 
of life could not long continue under such strain. 
Would there be no dawn this side of the grave ? 



106 THE TRUE PATH. 

CHAPTER X. 

CAPTAIN CYRUS STURDIVANT. 

In preparing men for, and leading them into, 
great events, God employs instruments. It matters 
not how manifest may be his purposes, or how cir- 
cuitous and nrysterious the paths of the ones selected, 
down somewhere in it all is an Israelitish maid to 
direct, or an Ananias to put his hands upon them. 

The case Of Mr. Murphy was to be no exception 
to this. There was an important life before him, 
and an efficient person wast now commissioned to 
direct him to it. That person was Captain Cyrus 
Sturdivant. He knew of the unlimited power of 
the gospel to save from the meshes of sin. And he 
understood its ability to destroy the last remains of 
the carnal nature. Prompted one day by the Divine 
Spirit to exert his influence, if possible, among the 
poor victims imprisoned in the jail, he applied to 
the sheriff for permission to come and talk with 
them. This was granted. And, as to the conse- 
quences of this man's visit and labor, we prefer here 
to repeat the somewhat thrilling story of Mr. Mur- 
phy : 

" To Captain Sturdivant," said he, " If I have 
been of any use in the world, under God, I owe all 
of it. He commenced his Work on the Sabbath day. 
The great, dark entrance door was opened to the 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 107 

Christian people. Quite a number had collected 
together, and they came in singing, — 



' All bail the power of Jesus' name ; 
Let angels prostrate fall ; 
Bring forth the royal diadem, 
And crown him Lord of all, &c.' 



RELIGIOUS SERVICES IN THE JAIL. 

" I was sitting # on the little iron bedstead in my 
cell, when the keeper came to the door and, looking 
» at me, said : 

" ' Mr. Murphy, we would like to have you come 
out and attend religious service.' 

" ' Please excnse me, I will remain here and not 
disturb your people,' was my prompt reply. 

" ' Come out, these people are your friends, they 
will not injure you,' persisted the keeper. 

" There was something so kind and agreeable in 
the face of the man, that it produced a disposition 
of assent within me, and touched my heart. Yet 
my answer was, — 

" ' I would sooner stay here.' 

" ' Come on, Mr. Murphy,' he continued. 

"At this, I concluded I would go. Oh, how my 
heart had ached for a kind word ; for some one to 
say, ' Can I do anything for you ? ' I then re- 
sponded, 

" ' I will go out with you, I believe.' 



108 THE TRUE PATH. 



ME. MURPHY ATTENDS THE MEETING. 

" I arose from my seat, stepped out the little open 
door, walked along about ten paces, and sat down 
with the rest of the prisoners. There was Captain 
Cyrus Sturdivaut. His back was turned toward 
me as I walked along the corrider. He appeared 
to me then as a larger man than he is just now. 
When he turned about he was weeping as a mother 
sometimes weeps for her child. As I looked at his 
face, I asked myself, ' Who is he*weeping for ; has 
he lost a son ? ' No, it was evident that he had a 
heart for others. He was telling of God's goodness. « 
His words were very sweet to me. He spoke to us 
of hungry wives and children. And, at that mo- 
ment, it seemed I could see my poor wife and chil- 
dren before me. As he continued to talk, it seemed 
to me that my imagination never realized so power- 
fully, as it did at that time, the presence of the 
objects of my affections. My children, seemed to be 
about me ; and my dear wife to stand in my pre- 
sence, as dtlrn and patient as ever, saying not one 
word. I queried, ' Does .anyone care for me ? ' — ' I 
wonder if there is a friendly hand here to be ex- 
tended to me ? ' And I said to myself, * Oh what 
would I not give to sit down with that man and tell 
him the sorrow of my heart/ Nobody said anything 
to me, and I spoke to no one. In spite of myself 
the tears would course down my cheeks. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 109 



A TRUE FRIEND. 

"After the meeting I desired to hurriedly get 
away. I wanted to get into the little dark room, 
out of sight, so that I could, in some way, give ex- 
pression to the grief that was almost consuming me. 
I was walking along the corrider, when a step came 
after me, followed quickly with a tap on my shoul- 
der. My hand was instantly seized, and Captain 
Sturdivant stood before me." 

It is but proper, we think, that this interesting 
narrative should be interrupted here with a view to 
the offering of a few sentences of comment. In just 
such a way does every true friend of our Lord Jesus 
work. Not for self; not for appearance or reputa- 
tion. But, tearing away from .his surroundings ; 
leaving his friends and helpers to care for themselves; 
he springs in the direction of the perishing. 

The recital of the good man's course reminds us, 
greatly, of the bravery and sacrifice that attaches to 
the noble creature who leaps into the sea to save a 
human life. True, there is not the same risk; but 
there is the same impulse, and a Christian courage 
— that highest development of all that is good in 
man — that always endures the test more than any- 
thing of the natural mind. Such men deserve the 
love and esteem of all Christians, and will assuredly 
receive even a more glorious recompense at the 
hands of the righteous judge, when he shall come. * 
6 



110 THE TRUE PATH. 



VALUABLE MEN. 



Nowhere can better, firmer friends of all mankind 
be found, than among those who labor down in the 
' ranks of the poor and fallen ; who go out into the 
alleys, lanes and by-ways, and down into the huts, 
sheds and cellars, or out into the market places and 
prisons, after souls. We honor them, in our hearts, 
whatever their creed, or position, or education, or 
previous life. We look up to the pulpit, and say 
from force of circumstances — sometimes quite chari- 
tably — they are men, and friends, of God. But we 
look out upon the humble evangelists and missiona- 
ries of the Cross and say, from impulse, they are 
friends of God and man. 

Such persons should never be allowed to hide 
themselves away from us. The world is in want of 
all their friendship, actively exercised. To under- 
value them appears to be tantamount to wickedness. 
To disregard their worth is to refuse to gather the 
gold that lies about our pathways. A single one of 
such men is more than all earthly treasures, from 
the cattle upon a thousand hills to the great metal- 
lic veins that course the geological eras of the globe. 
Is there cause for dislike, or envy among such as 
hold higher places? Speedily remove it. Rather, 
pray God to heal your heart, than that you should 
use indifference or coldness toward them. Good 
men — those who are deeply such, in the work of 
their lives — are always scarce. They merit recogni- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. Ill 

tion, encouragement and universal respect. There 
is much of kindness among men, and no bounds to 
the vast amount of individual friendships. But the 
genuine friends of our common humanity are like 
finest- carat diamonds — very rare and worthful. 

THERE IS HOPE FOR YOU. 

We will now return to Mr. Murphy's story : 

" The first words of Captain Sturdivant to me 
were, — 

" ' I am sorry to see you here. Would you not 
like to be sober, as you once were, and stop the 
business of selling liquor, and be at home with your 
wife and children ? ' 

" ' Yes, I would like to be respected. I do not 
want to be in the business of selling liquor. But,' 
after a slight pause, I continued, ' hardly a hope 
remains for me.' 

"Upon this reply, the good hearted man immedi- 
ately pulled me close to his side, and said : 

"'There is hope for you; and, if you will only 
make an effort to help yourself, we will help you ; 
and God will help you.' 

" Oh, how sweetly these words came to my heart. 
I shall never forget them. And as I looked up, and 
into his face, I saw the tears coursing thick and fast 
down his cheeks. Then I said to myself, ' God help- 
ing me, I will make an effort to become a sober 
man.' And, I can say, I secured the victory over 
the terrible evil of intemperance through the kindly 
touch and words of this Christian." 



112 THE TRUE PATH. 



POWER OF KINDNESS. 



It may be well here to indulge in a passing reflec- 
tion upon the power of kindness. A single word, 
and even look, rightly and timely given, has not 
only brought light and salvation to a soul, but been 
the means, in the end, of lifting hundreds and thou- 
sands from the sloughs of sin to the Rock of right- 
eousness — from deep depravity to true manhood, 

The brief work of Capt. Sturdivant, and its re- 
sults, calls to mind another instance of the glorious 
consequences of a few kind words : 

On a certain Sabbath evening, many years ago, — 
perhaps twenty-five or thirty — a reckless young man 
was idly lounging under the elm trees in the public 
square of Worcester, Massachusetts. He had become 
a wretched waif on the current of sin. His days 
were spent in the waking remorse of the drunkard ; 
his nights were passed in the buffooneries of an ale- 
house. As he sauntered along, out of humor with 
himself and with all mankind, a kind voice saluted 
him. A stranger laid his hand on his shoulder, and 
said in cordial tones, " Mr. G-ough, go down to our 
meeting at the town-hall to-night." A brief con- 
versation followed, so winning in its character, that 
the reckless youth consented to go. He went ; he 
heard the appeals there made. With trembling 
hand he signed the pledge of total abstinence. By 
God's help he kept it, and keeps it yet. 

The poor boot-crimper who tapped him on the 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCi). 113 

shoulder, good Joel Stratton, has gone to heaven. 
But the youth he saved is to-day the foremost of re- 
formers on the face of the globe. 

Methinks, when we listen to the thunders of ap- 
plause that greet John B. Gough on the platform, 
we are hearing the echoes of that tap on the shoulder, 
and of that kind invitation under the ancient elms 
of Worcester. 

LITTLE THINGS. 

Thus, also, when we see the crowds of drinking 
men walk from their slavery, with even the chains 
clanking 'about their feet, into the moral air and 
freedom of gospel temperance, we seem to hear from 
the corridor of the Portland jail the kindly fall of 
Capt. Sturdivant's hand upon the shoulder of the 
coming reformer. And the conclusion imposed upon 
us is, that we would rather have the reward, that 
comes of that little act, than enjoy the highest place, 
with all its best honors and emoluments, in the gift 
of any nation or age. 

Little things I How the thoughts of them crowd 
our mind. They, the means usually employed by 
Jehovah in the production of the most wonderful 
events. They rise up along side the honored and 
well-heralded things of life, and throw their mightier 
shadows across them. They have often their origin 
in the brain of childhood, and eventually wind their 
slender threads about households, social systems and 
nations, until the whole world of hearts are all 



i 



114 THE TRUE PATH. 

haunted by their memories. In truth, we are prone 
to believe that all things truly great are but grown 
up little things. 

Shall we not regard them, then? Shall we not 
tap a poor fallen man on the shoulder in behalf of 
a great suffering humanity ? Shall we not offer 
a tear on the side of devoted mothers and loved 
ones in heaven ? Is it, finally, not better that we 
should engage at every possible opportunity in doing 
some little thing for Christ, ana for souls, than that 
we should idle away our lives in failures at so-called 
big things ? 

NOBLE FEELINGS. 

Again, taking up our narrative, do we not see 
how noble feelings are aroused under heavenly influ- 
ences — how graces, which do not thrive and bloom 
in the hot blaze of the world, can be brought into 
full play, down about the grates and bars of even 
prison life. For, as Oapt. Sturdivant was about to 
leave Mr. Murphy, after the very limited interview 
' described, the latter imploringly asked : 

" i Will you please go and see my wife and tell her 
to keep up courage ? ' 

" ' I will,' was the quick and earnest response. 

" 'And will you come and see me, again,' rejoined 
Mr. Murphy, as his visitor was passing out, his 
countenance and his whole demeanor betokening 
the deep interest felt in the request. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 115 



" GOD BLESS YOU I 

" ' 0, Yes ! I will come and see you again. And 
may God bless you 1 ' were the hurried words of the 
great and good man as he passed out of the door." 

Capt.Sturclivant was gone. Not so his last words. 
They rang in the ears of the prisoner, until their vi- 
brations spread through every avenue and recess of 
the soul. They recalled the mother's blessing, in the 
cottage by the sea, and the well-formed but long- 
neglected purposes of the ambitious Irish boy. " God 
bless you ! " seemed to fill his cell. The words lin- 
gered with him during the remainder of that solemn 
holy day. And at evening, when alone, in the deep- 
ness of his sorrow, and when the Spirit of Evil 
came to him, as frequently before, and said, " You 
have no friends; there are none you can trust," a 
beautiful form immediately came and ministered 
unto him, and said, " God bless you ! " 



CHAPTER XI. 

A WEEK OF SUEFERING. 

A long week had now begun its round* in the 
prison, Mr. Murphy hourly, as N time heavily 
dragged along, had his mind upon his family. 
While the woe of his own heart began to oppress 
him, he more keenly felt for that of those dear to 
him, and upon whom he had placed the most griev- 



116 THE TRUE PATH. 

ous and grinding of burdens. His sins appeared 
more fearful than ever. A mountain of evil, suffi- 
cient to overwhelm him at every turn, met his 
thoughts. How could he flee his degradation ? 
"Was there no place of comfort ? Would his punish- 
ment never end ? 

These, and similar thoughts, troubled him each 
day J; and thus, so fevered and perturbed had his 
mind become, before the hours of rest arrived, that 
he paced the little cell, throughout whole nights, 
suffering most exquisite anguish. He fancied he 
heard the pleading voices of the little home circle ; 
that he saw the pale visage of her whom he had 
sworn to love, comfort, honor, and keep, in sickness 
and health ; and, that he especially heard the call 
of the little boy, whom his heart most dearly loved, 
close by him, in his room. 

He has assured us that, after, at several times, 
lying down awhile, he has gotten up and walked 
about his cell as if in search of his child, and felt 
impressed that the little fellow must be at hand, 
and could almost be seen. At such times, there 
were two sentences to recall him to his lonely situa- 
tion, and soften its severity, — the one, the kind re- 
mark, " There is hope for you ; " the other, the 
solacing words, " God bless you ! " 

THE WORDS PUT INTO HIS MOUTH. 

Here we catch unmistakable glimpses of the facts 
that Captain Sturdivant was first led by the Spirit 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 117 

to this apostle, for his awakening ; and that the 
words were put into his mouth, by which the great 
soul should be fitly leavened for the approaching 
Sabbath. Of all other things, which might have 
been uttered, we incline to the belief that nothing 
else than was uttered could have been equally 
effective. In Mr. Murphy's case they were all 
potent, and the words of Infinite Wisdom. 

The instruction of Christ, " Take no thought how 
or what ye shall speak ; for it shall be given you in 
that same hour what ye shall speak," were to the 
disciples at first. But, as the whole range of God's 
teachings and promises, they were as well to their 
followers and the Church forever. When men, 
with great confidence in human knowledge, exhaust 
their best efforts of mind in a thorough preparation 
for Christian work, they of necessity antagonize 
the injunction. 

We feel led here to step out further, into a some- 
what side issue, and ask, Why was it said " Take 
no thought how or what ye shall say ? " Why, 
also, " In that same hour ? ' ; Why should the 
Master have enjoined these things except for high, 
important, and most sacred reasons? And, if so 
essential in the proclamation of Divine Truth, then, 
is it not equally so now ? 

INFLUENCES OP THE SPIRIT ESSENTIAL. 

Do men say, however, that the demands of edu- 
cation — of circumspection in theological and philo- 

6* 



118 THE TRUE PATH. 

sophical discussion — in these times, are such as to 
require great precision and preparation ? We reply- 
that the very claim is profane in character. It 
assumes that the wisdom and preparation of man, 
under an educated system, is above that of the 
Holy Ghost. 

No, in these days, when sophistry and skepticism 
are highly skilled, more than in those of man's 
comparative ignorance, do we need the enlightening 
influences of God. And, at no time do we require 
to lean more heavily and perfectly upon the guid- 
ance of the Spirit, in all our thoughts, than when 
the Church is well burdened with commentaries 
and criticisms, and when these stand in about as 
close proximity, oftentimes, as the North and South 
Pole. We greatly prefer the Bible with prayer, to 
the Bible and all other human means — especially to 
the taking of thought how or what, and then doing 
it for a whole week or month beforehand. 

Another fact, is evidence, per se, of the correctness 
of these views. It is, that when devout believers 
have tested for any reasonable time, and under rea- 
sonable circumstances, the two methods, they have 
promptly and freely decided in favor of the Spirit 
doing the work, in His own way, and in the self- 
same hour. 

PLAN TO BE ADHERED TO. 

Before leaving these thoughts, we will remark, 
that we admit the necessity of a certain method of 
preparation for gospel labor, we understand the 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 119 

" how/' or " what " to refer to the language and 
subject-matter. We require arrangement of subject. 
It were foolish to question it. But there is a prepara- 
tion that is as high as the Holy Spirit ; a preparation 
as frequently slighted by preachers, as regular means 
of grace are by laymen. We may learn the wisdom 
of men as thoroughly as Moses did that of the Egyp- 
tians. It will only place us at advantage. But we 
must, with it all, have the wisdom of God. 

In the work of the church, and particularly in the 
sacred desk, all idea of appearing to advantage, of 
saying fine things, beautiful things, sensational 
things, and hitting things, is preposterously absurd 
and should be abandoned. The man should be 
hidden, and Christ held up. The advice of Jesus, 
in brief, should be obeyed to the full extent of its 
import, that we should "take no thought as to how 
or what" And if this were adhered to, the remain- 
der of the sentence — " For it shall be given you in 
that same hour, what" &c. — would harmonize with 
pulpit experiences. One result, at least, inevitably, 
would be, a mighty tearing down of the strongholds 
of sin. And still another, and important one, that 
unconverted and ungodly men would flee the sacred 
calling as speedily as certain little rodents are said 
to flee a burning store-house, or sinking ship. 

A NOTABLE DAY. 

As we have said, at the beginning of this chapter, 
time hung heavily upon our subject in the Portland 
prison. He anxiously awaited the developments of 



120 THE TRUE PATH. 

another holy day, and looked with a peculiar eager- 
ness toward it. At last, after a partial rest the 
previous Dight, it opened beautifully and brightly. 
And now, that we may omit nothing from the most 
important feature in this biography, we will give 
the revelations of Mr. Murphy, as he has one by one* 
unfolded them in their proper order — doubtless fur- 
nishing everything of any especial value in connec- 
tion with that most notable event : 

" The Sabbath day came and great interest was 
shown throughout the city. It was generally known 
that the Christian people had commenced to worship 
in the jail. A large number of people early gathered 
about the building. They principally came to join 
in the worship of God, and, you may rest assured 
there was quite a crowd. 

GREAT RELIGIOUS MEETING IN JAIL. 

" I did not suppose that my wife would come to 
see me. At least I hoped she would not. But it 
was ordered otherwise. Of course I knew that, out 
of the gladness of her heart, she would come, if it 
did not occur to her how painful it would be to me 
to see her at such a place and under such surround- 
ings. But it seems that where hearts are true they 
cannot easily be separated. Prison doors cannot 
long keep them apart. You may even put a man 
on the gallows, the redeeming power of love will 
claim its own. 

" The doors of the prison were soon opened wide, 



121 

and a continuous line of people entered. How dif- 
ferent my feelings now from those I had, at the same 
hour, one week previous. I actually longed to see 
the face of that Christian man, Capt. Sturdivant. 
Through the previous week I prayed from my heart, 
while alone in my cell, that God would send him to 
me. I longed for some friendly hand, and for de- 
liverance, so that I might, liberated from all bonds, 
go to my innocent children and queenly wife. 

" As the crowds came in they sang, as before. It 
was truly a beautiful and inspiring sight. When 
the place was well filled, hundreds of people had to 
be turned away, 

ESPIED HIS WIFE. 

" When I lifted up my head and looked over 
among the throng, my eyes fell upon my dear wife. 
She had stepped just inside the door, so as to be out 
of sight as much as possible, dear child. I see her 
sweet face now. The moment I looked upon her, 
she stepped aside, to be away from my gaze as soon 
as possible. The little children were with her. 
They had hold of their mother's dress and I could 
see them looking through the audience to see where 
their father was. 

u As I was, seated there on that occasion, I felt in 
my heart that I would have thanked God, had he 
taken me to himself in an instant of time. My experi- 
ence was of such a terribly painful nature, that my 
poverty of language forbids me to attempt a descrip- 
tion of it. 



122 THE TRUE PATH. 

" When I saw my wife, her lips parted, and her 
eyes filled with tears. I had just taken ray seat, 
and kept looking at my children. Truly, I realized 
that my life was far from desirable. 

A BOUQUET AND A FOND MEETING. 

"At this point, my oldest daughter, Mary, who 
was then ten years of age, parted from her mother 
and pressed along through the audience. She had 
a beautiful bouquet in her hand. Evidently she had 
brought it to her father. I saw that the face of the 
dear child had become as white as linen. Soon she 
was at my side. She tried to shake hands with me, 
but standing as she was, she could not very well, 
and, passing her arms around my neck, she said : 

" 4 Father, oh, father, we Jaave been lonesome for 
you!' 

" ' Daughter, I have been lonesome for you,' I 
replied, and, at once, added, ' and God helping I 
shall make an effort to be a sober man.' " 

Following this scene, we are drawn toward the 
assemblage of people on every hand. A lively inter- 
est was apparent upon their countenances. Here 
and there a few quietly engaged in an occasional 
interchange of remarks. But the most attractive 
circumstances of the hour were those which con- 
cerned the numerous prisoners present. As the 
daughter of the ex-landlord and saloon-keeper 
pushed along- through the gathering toward her 
father, having her bouquet in hand, not a few eyes 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 123 

followed her and scanned closely the meeting of the 
two, together with its little phases and effects. Not 
a few persons were moved to tears, and perceptably 
agitated. 

The worship of God had begun. It was impres- 
sive, and of quite a spiritual character. The sing- 
ing, prayers, and remarks were highly interesting 
•and important, and contributed greatly toward the 
softening of hearts that heretofore were stoical in 
such things. The visitors knew full well that their 
labors were not in vain, and would surely be at- 
tended with good consequences in the end. 

SOUGHT OUT BY A LOVING COMPANY. 

We cannot here notice the various incidents of 
the services, as it is our business to record only those 
things which concern the subject of our biography. 
Capt. Sturdivant, with others, had become deeply 
interested in the case of Mr. Murphy. His case was 
an important one. He was well known, and, doubt- 
less, many prayers had ascended within a short time 
in his behalf. As soon, therefore, as the services 
had concluded, he was sought out by the good man, 
as well as by his devoted wife and children. And 
these in the anxiousness of their souls, accompanied 
him to his little cell, there to sympathize with and 
cheer him in his desires to attain to firm and deep 
resolves against his former mode of life. 

Can any one, this side actual experience, form an 
intelligent opinion of the thoughts and emotions 



124 THE TEUE PATH. 

which crowded the breasts of that living company, 
as, one by one, they stepped into the cold and 
gloomy cell ? It appears to us that under few other 
influences could there be a more active appeal to 
general Christian sympathy ; and that if ever the 
great Divine Heart especially throbbed and was dis 
turbed in behalf of poor, unfortunate creatures, it 
was on this solemn Sabbath occasion. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PRAYER-MEETING IN THE DARK DUNGEON. 

A feeling of sacredness, bordering upon awe, 
belongs to this portion of our narrative. When 
people, singly, go into their closets to commune 
with God, they cannot but realize that, being alone 
with their Almighty Helper, a deep solemnity at- 
taches to the service. A species of peculiar sauctity 
is in the air they breathe. But, when we go down 
to the dungeon, in the prison, and there behold the 
most loving and faithful of burdened souls, gathered 
about their fallen husband, father and friend, for 
the purpose of unitedly appearing before the King 
of Kings, in petition, we feel a sense of oppression 
and profound reverence. 

A distinguished man once, upon a corner of a 
street, in a European city, heard the nervous and 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 125 

peculiarly sweet voice of a child engaged at singing 
to God's praise. His eyes, instantly turned in the 
direction of the sound, fell upon a little blind boy, 
whose face seemed radiant with the rapture of a 
devout heart. At once the hat was removed from 
his head, and his chin fell upon his broad chest. A 
passing friend said to the man, " Why stand here in 
the broiling sun with bared head ? Is anything 
wrong ? " Then looking up, for the moment, he re- 
plied, " Do you hear that voice, and see that face ? 
The little fellow is blind to the wonderful beauties 
of this inspiring morning. And, I said to myself, 
' If he can so offer praise, while denied the sight of 
all that is lovely in nature, surely God must be very 
near.' Therefore, I took off my hat." 

Here, too, we feel like bowing the head, and fall- 
ing down before the Majesty on High. 

MR. MURPHY'S CONVERSION. 

The worship of God now commenced in the cell. 
We will give the occurrences of the brief little ser- 
vice, in the words of Mr. Murphy : 

" Capt. Sturdivant was close by my side. He 
placed his arm about my neck, and said, ' Mr. 
Murphy give your heart to Christ and all will be 
well with you ! ' 

" In a little while, my wife was by my side, with 
the children. 

" I hardly dared to look to heaven, I had been so 
unfortunate. But a ray oi hope came to my poor, 



126 THE TRUE PATH. 

aching heart, and then, with my poor suffering wife 
and children, we all knelt down together upon the 
cold, dark prison floor, and supplicated God's 
Throne for Divine mercy and grace. 

"The work was then and there done. I arose 
from my knees with an evidence of God's accept- 
ance of me. Blessed be His name. I knew, for 
myself, that, — 

" He breaks the power of cancelPd sin ; 
He sets the prisoner free ; 
His blood can make the foulest clean ; 
His blood availed for rne !" 

THE NEW BIRTH. 

In this, we place before the reader the declara- 
tions of Mr. Murphy. We have no right to question 
them for a moment. And, while we deplore the in- 
dulgences of violent physical effort, in the work of the 
soul, as uncalled for and unreasonable, we have the 
most unbounded confidence in such a service and 
meeting as occurred in the Portland prison, and do 
not, for a moment, doubt the result claimed. 

We believe there is an argent necessity, on the 
part of every human being, for a "new birth ;" that 
it merits the most prompt and careful attention ; 
and that Christians should continually carry within 
them the evidence and knowledge of Divine favor, 
— however much we may differ as to the proper, or 
best means of its obtainment. 

Our observation, tempts us to the conclusion that, 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 127 

between the denominations resorting to special 
efforts and intense feeling, and those continuing in 
the beaten track, without manifesting any improve- 
ment, or real change of life, both have good cause 
for fault-finding and remonstrance. No one can 
fail to see a high middle-ground between the two. 
But, evidently, neither are able just now to occupy. 
The one is held back by the weight of its success, 
and the crowds about the wheels of its machinery ; 
the other, by the fear that it may be charged with 
sympathy with, and an approach to, the former. 
This is an unfortunate state of affairs. It shows 
plainly that the day of indifference to the carnal 
mind, and a rigid adherence to the Divine behests, 
has not yet dawned upon the Church. 

We think, however, that the time is not remote 
in which all systems of religion will exhibit a high 
esteem for true piety, and make it the great condi- 
tion to responsible posts. And we believe, too, that 
the extraordinary disregard of the plain requirements 
of Christ, in his conversation with Nicodernus, must 
yield, in the not distant future, to their full con- 
sideration and practice. 

A SUBJECT WORTHY ATTENTION. 

In these remarks we do not harbor, what some 
might designate as, objectionable tendencies. On 
the contrary, we look with much of misgiving 
and apprehension upon the unrestricted latitude 
that has allowed thousands of unthinking persons 



128 THE TRUE PATH. 

to even widen the breach created between the 
reformation and dissenting churches in the seven- 
teenth century. But, we are clear, that the change 
demanded by our Lord merits more than a passing 
nod ; that it requires that our tastes, habits, ap- 
petites, thoughts, feelings and proclivities — in a 
word, our natures — shall experience a radical change, 
however that may be brought about ; whether by a 
careful and systematic training, that makes men in- 
telligent Christians, void of all doubt and delusion ; 
or, by the sudden method, by which a large propor- 
tion break through the net before they can be 
hauled to the limitless shores. 

LOOSE RELIGION. — DAYS OF MIRACLES. 

Our purpose, in these remarks, is to do good ; to 
honor Christ. We dislike a loose religion ; a re- 
ligion that is just none at all; a religion that 
don't look beyond the church, or above the or- 
dinance ; a religion that has as much of faith and 
works in it as the clouds have of marble or brass. 
There is, everywhere, a need for a consciousness, a 
certainty, on the part of church members, that they 
" are not their own, but belong unto their faithful 
Saviour Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood 
hath fully satisfied for all their sins, and delivered 
them from all the power of the devil." 

These thoughts bring us again to the statement 
of Mr. Murphy, that he, in the solemn meeting had 
in his cell, arose from his knees, with an evidence of 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 129 

God's acceptance of him. We receive it, just as all 
other wonderful things, and can only here say, in 
regard to it, that God's miraculous power did 
not cease with Paul's conversion, neither are the 
days of miracles as much gone by as many would 
make believe. 

A TRANSFORMATION. 

When Mr. Murphy's family surrounded him, they 
had been poorly provided for, and he admits that 
they were in a starving or semi-starving condition. 
Yet all sight of the fact was lost. There was a be- 
. loved husband and father, just saved from the jaws 
of destruction. He had just consecrated his heart 
to God, and his life to total abstinence. The inter- 
ests of the soul sat as cap-sheaves over those of the 
body, and all were in rapture. Here we will put on 
record the words of the saved man : 

" Then everything became transformed. The 
very granite of the prison seemed to me to be cut 
and carved so as to exhibit the forms of angels." 

LIGHT HEARTS. 

Immediately, upon the close of this service in Mr. 
Murphy's cell, his wife and children, with Capt. 
Sturdivant, left the jail. Their steps, like their, 
hearts, were light. The skies were more attractive, 
and all nature more fascinating to the care-worn 
wife, and successful evangelist, than before. Their 



130 THE TRUE PATH. 

very countenances seemed to say to the critical ob- 
server, " News ! News ! I " How the miseries of a. 
faithful wife seemed freely compensated ! 

KEPT IN PRISON. 

After the reformation of Mr. Murphy he was not 
promptly liberated. This was evidently the purpose 
of the great Ruler of Earth. Man cannot defeat 
His plans. He had been remarkably good and con- 
descending in visiting one cell and one soul. There 
were seventy-five more souls within that place of 
incarceration, all of which were as precious to Him. 
The first fruits were for Him — for His great work 
of reform throughout the land. But there were the 
later fruits for the comforting and healing of the 
various anxious households. 

Our God is no respecter of persons. When He re- 
claims one, it is that, through such an instrument, 
the all-needful work of salvation shall continue. 
He not only puts into every redeemed heart the 
desire to honor Him in that way, but also furnishes 
the light, the direction, and the power. 

For a considerable time afterwards, Mr. Murphy 
remained a prisoner. He meditated long and well 
upon the step he had taken, and the experience he 
had attained to, and gradually entered upon his 
plans for the future. It was thus, in the jail, that 
originated the great reformatory wave now deluging 
our goodly land. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 131 



ASKS TO CONDUCT A PRAYER-MEETING. 

One day he conceived the project of carrying the 
work, begun in his own soul, among the unconverted 
men around him. He sent a petition to Sheriff 
Perry asking his permission to hold a prayer meet- 
ing. This, as in the case of the request made by 
Capt. Sturdivant "of the same official, was granted. 
The meeting was held, and was one of powerful 
influence for good. An impression was made such 
as could not have been readily accomplished under 
less interesting circumstances. 

Mr. Murphy had grounds for hopefulness. He 
arose from his bed, often at night, and prayed long 
and earnestly that the poor prisoners might all be 
saved by grace divine. 

"And, in the silence of the night," he has said, 
"on such occasions, the word came to my soul, that 
God had a work for me to do." 

"I then said to the Lord," he continued, "If 
Thou wilt give me to see much fruit from this 
work, it shall be the evidence to me that I am 
called to preach the gospel." 

SEVENTT-PIVE PRISONERS CONVERTED. 

i Mr. Murphy did not have a great while to wait. 
In the course of a little time, he says, he saw the 
seventy-five men brought securely from the evil of 
their lives. God gave him every man in the jail. 



132 THE TRUE PATH. 

This was an unexampled success; enough to 
encourage any believer to feel that he was a chosen 
vessel. The effect of his work became apparent in 
the course pursued toward the men. The sheriff 
discontinued the practice of locking them up. They 
were put upon their honor. Contrary to the pre- 
vious custom of the place, they were permitted to 
go out into the yard, and not one of them ever vio- 
lated his word with the keeper. 

DIVINE NATURE OP THE WORK. 

Thus, it is evident, in the work of this man, that 
Jesus continues to confound the wise and great of 
this world by using the despised among men ; that 
the same Wisdom which passed by the schools of 
the prophets, and the candidates for the priesthood, 
and selected humble fishermen, is yet exercised in 
behalf of sinners ; and that the same Power which 
disregarded Gamaliel and the Sanhedrim, and se- 
lected one who was a favored pupil and follower, 
and smote him down, that he might be fully quali- 
fied for His service, is still controlling the destinies 
of our race. 

No man was ever more certainly led into the 
cause of righteousness, for an active and prominent 
part, than Mr. Murphy. He is a singular adapta- 
tion of the human to the work of the Divine. His 
character is one that it would be useless to attempt 
to lay bare. So far as it concerns his work, this 
cannot be done. ■ The blade in his hand forbids any 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 133 

such design. The Sword of the Spirit scarcely 
admits of a proximity for so weak and foolish a 
purpose. The power is of God. The man would 
be as a child in the gigantic conflict without that 
power. Yet such power is only given where souls 
are great, and broad, and deep and all-capacious. 



CHAPTER XIII., 

HIS IMPRISONMENT A SCHOOL. 

As time went on, and the strange events at the 
Portland jail had been well noised about, a deep 
sympathy was created for the poor men denied their 
liberty. The popular heart became largely centred 
upon the prisoners, and was ready to demand the 
release of such, at least, as had not committed some 
felony of a grievous nature. 

And no one stood higher in public esteem than 
the once wretched inebriate and saloon-keeper who 
had been the means of so much good. His labors 
among, and in behalf of the salvation of, his fellows 
around him, were the subject of daily comment. He 
had already, before leaving the great dark walls as 
a freeman, made an impression that could not but 
put him in the fore front in any attempt as a leader, 
teacher or lecturer. His imprisonment proved the 
entrance-way to a great and valuable life. He had 
only been to school. 

1 



134 THE TKUE PATH. 



NO HELP FOR HIS WIFE. 

But while these things were so, few persons — as 
is usually the case — knew of the misery that existed 
in Mr. Murphy's household. This is best furnished 
in the following words of the lecturer : 

" They were in straitened circumstances. The 
landlord had notified my wife and her six little ones 
to get out of his building. There was no one to 
help her. 

DENIED HERSELF BREAD. 

" What I suffered during that time God himself 
only knows. My wife denied herself bread to feed 
the children, as a good mother always will, and 
even to send me a bite by the children when they 
came to see me. Finally, the children could not 
come ; they had no money to pay the car fare. 

NO MEALS THAT DAY. 

"It was on the 30th of October, 1870, that I re- 
ceived a letter from my dear wife. It was the last 
one I ever received from her. It appears that she 
had had no meals that day, as she had nothing to 
cook. Johnny, the littlest of the six, while walking 
up and down the floor, had turned round at last 
and pleaded to her : ' Mother, haven't you got a 
piece of bread for me ? ' She opened the cupboard, 
but searched in vain. For the first time there was 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 135 

actually not even a crust or crumb for the ' pet,' for 
whom she had always been able to save at least 
something. 

MRS. MURPHY'S SAD LETTEK. 

" The mother's heart failed her, and then she sat 
down and wrote me this letter : 

" ' Dear Husband : — I have had a week of bitter 
trial. My strength is failing me. I cannot live 
long. But do not be discouraged. My trust is in 
God.' 

" This letter I received at night. I could not read 
it in my dark cell, but I managed to decipher the 
words by the gas in the corridor. 

A BITTER NIGHT. 

"I walked my cell all that night. I cannot speak 
my experience on that the most bitter night I ever 
spent in all my life. But it is past now, thanks be 
to God ! never to be lived over. I determined to 
put my trust in God. If I lived until morning I 
would show that letter to the keeper, and tell him 
the circumstances, and ask him to go to Captain 
Sturdivant, the only earthly friend I knew. And 
when daylight came, God's goodness came unto me. 

RELEASED. 

" I was released from prison through the efforts 
of my friend, Captain Sturdivant. On my road 



136 THE TKUE PATH. 

home I heard a familiar step behind me, approach- 
ing rapidly, and the next moment the arms of my 
son Willie were around my neck. 

" He whispered in my ear, 4 We live down there, 
father ; come quick this way, and follow me. No 
one is looking.' The poor boy thought it was nec- 
essary to hide me. * I am released, my boy ! ' I 
cried to him. 

" ' Blessed be to God,' he answered, as he fled to 
break the news to mother ; and in nearing the 
house the children came and flocked around me, 
and I felt like old times again." 

A COMPLETE WRECK. 



In the door-way, while yet at a little distance, Mr. 
Murphy saw his wife standing. Oh, how changed 
her figure and face ! A shudder crept over him as 
he beheld one, who had been so beautiful and true, 
now faded, trembling and almost crushed. She 
looked to him like a vessel, which had started upon 
the great bosom of life, with pure sails, majestic 
form and bright promises, but which, after strug- 
gling gallantly and faithfully through the most 
fearful of storms, was left at mid-ocean, a complete 
wreck. Now, the storm had been spent ; the clouds 
were broken ; the silver linings were far out where 
the wavelets, in rhythmic succession, leaped upon 
and kissed the passing clouds ; and the whole firma- 
ment was decorated with sheets of gold ; but, the best 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 137 

and dearest of all objects was broken — yea, sinking, 
and would soon forever disappear from the surface. 
No wonder that Mr. Murphy felt a chill come 
upon him. No wonder that his previous hopes and 
buoyant emotions were cast aside. And even now, 
we think, that he would be one of the last meu, to 
touch the intoxicating glass, in this world ; that, at 
the very thought of the act, the white face of the 
sainted wife and mother would rise up before him 
and dash it to the ground. One such experience as 
his should be enough to keep a world of men from 
the dread destroyer. 

THE MEETING. 

We will return to the very touching account, 
given by Mr. Murphy, of his release, and return to 
his home : 

" When I reached the door I met my wife, who 
folded me in her arms to her bosom. I can see her 
now as in a picture, with her large wealth of golden 
hair huug carelessly over her shoulders. ' God help- 
ing me, wife,' I said, ' I will never touch another 
drop of liquor, and never sell another drop ! 7 " 

AN EARNEST PRAYER. 

Quickly the home was entered. The soul of the 
Christian companion and mother, heretofore con- 
scious of uninterrupted suffering, was now running 



138 THE TRUE PATH. 

over with a sense of gratitude. She could not 
longer withhold the meed due Him who had so 
fully answered her many pleadings by day and by 
night. She sunk down upon her knees, and, hold- 
ing up her hands, tightly clasping those of her hus- 
band, offered thanks for Divine favor, and besought 
God, for Christ's sake, to give her husband strength 
to keep his resolution. 

Thus came on the new life of Francis Murphy in 
his family. Such occurrences could not but largely 
help to rivet the man and his purposes together. 
The beginning of any Christian life is attended with 
something of embarrassment. And when there is 
a total want of sympathy, among those allied to us 
in daily struggles, our perplexities are manifold and 
serious. But, in the case in point, it was otherwise. 
The wife was a sterling believer, and held in high 
esteem the privilege of prayer. Surely, here was 
much of aid and comfort, at this all-important 
period of Mr. Murphy's life. 



ERECTS A FAMILY ALTAR. 

The effect of the scene furnished is thus told, in a 
few sentences, by Mr. Murphy : 

" And then, all at once, things brightened, and I 
determined to erect a family altar. I said, I will go 
to Captain Sturdivant, who had rescued me, and 
tell him." 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 139 



FRUIT AND GARMENTS BROUGHT. 

" And that night he brought a lot of friends with 
him to erect it, and they brought fruit and garments 
for the little children. Oh! you don't know how 
they needed them. My eyes cannot help filling with 
tears when I remember that crisis of my life." 

NEW DUTIES AND TRIALS. 

The duties and struggles of our convert now 
began. His family was large, and to him all eyes 
were naturally turned. He engaged at such em- 
ployment as presented itself for the time, but felt 
far from contented in his narrow sphere. He was, 
after a while, to enter upon a wider field of activity, 
but there was deep water between it and him. 

MRS. MURPHY'S DEATH. 

Three weeks had passed away, when Mrs. Murphy 
was seized with an attack of typhoid fever. The 
scorching embrace of the disease soon produced the 
dreaded delirium. For fourteen days her husband 
and children watched and waited and toiled at her 
bedside. No attention was neglected. Every heart 
was bowed down and anxious. But the worst of 
all calamities was approaching. The physician 
soon found his skill exhausted in the vain hope to 
bring about a change. She never revived. Death 



140 . THE TRUE PATH. 

entered the home, and put his hand upon the chief 
object of all its affections. 

It was in the mouth of December, 1870, when 
this terrible visitation came upon the Murphy 
family. The husband was filled with mourning, 
and would not be comforted. The little faces 
around him were tear-marked, and the eyes red 
with weeping. The world had often appeared 
dark and chilly to some of them — but, now, it was 
enveloped in gloom, and desolation stared at them 
from every side. 

A SAD FAMILY. 

After a few days, the loved form was removed. 
The undertaker, and his assistant, soon put away 
all traces of the funeral. The little dining-room 
was in its usual order. A few, well-worn ornaments 
and bijouterie were here and there seen ; but all 
interest in them was gone. In the mother's room a 
coldness and heaviness rested everywhere. The 
bright December sunlight gleamed through the 
half-shaded windows, but it furnished nothing of 
warmth or cheer. There was some one absent. 
Something was wanting. Soon a little one began 
its woe. Mother was needed. The father might 
call to him the sad child, and speak of the bright, 
far-away land to which God had called their best 
and truer earthly friend ; but the sadness remained. 
None seemed to know why the kind Father should 
take her away, when she was wanted so much. 






GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 141 



THE MOST IMPORTANT OF EVENTS. 

We will now unwind the cords that have thus far 
allowed an undisturbed gaze at the home-scenes of 
a much stricken family, and let down the curtain 
that divides the life of Francis Murphy, the inebri- 
ate, and Francis Murphy, the temperance Apostle. 
We could not possibly omit in the former, this most 
important of all events, since it looms up before us 
as the deepest and direst of all the mischief conse- 
quent upon the acts of a dissipated husband. It 
naturally belongs to the time when, little by little, 
the earth was rudely and ruthlessly shoveled from 
beneath the weary feet of the tender pilgrim, until 
at last — though the Sun of Bighteousness, and the 
zephyrs from the Eternal City fell refreshingly upon 
her — the grave swallowed its own victor. 

The closing scenes in the life presented, have kept 
with Mr. Murphy. They seem to have had their 
influence upon his labors until this hour. Now and 
then, they almost overcome him, as his heart grows 
warm and his words tremulous. Often, they hover 
about his thoughts, without direct reference to 
them. His whole being often seems to leap back- 
ward and forward between the little grave mound 
in Wexford and that in Portland city. They sur- 
mount the ashes which he delights to honor. He 
would, from the love he bore them, and the hal- 
lowed veneration in which their memories are held, 
yet do much for the good mothers and suffering 



142 THE TKUJE PATH. 

wives of others. Notice his words, delivered on a 
recent occasion : 

CANNOT BUT WORK. 

" I am doing this work because I cannot help it. 
I can avoid doing it no more than I can avoid 
breathing. There is no portion of life I do not 
seem to have tasted. There is riot a man, who has 
passed through affliction, except that I have been 
called upon to do as much. I have been in the 
furnace when the form of the fourth was in it. I 
knew God was with me. 

" Could I but give others to see what I have seen, 
to feel what I have felt, and to pass through what I 
have done, none would be surprised at my eagerness. 
I found, beyond all questioning, that God saves to 
the uttermost. No matter, if you have been a 
prisoner, and base rebel, He comes to you with 
more than a mother's love. 

" How quickly would the mother come to her 
boy, if she could, and put her hand fondly upon his 
head, and draw him lovingly to her breast. A boy, 
even in rags, will try to make himself appear well 
before her who bore him. But she will not stop to 
see his rags ; she will see her face in his, and take 
him to her heart. She will not be content to take 
his hand, but will fall upon his neck. 

" So Christ sees His face in yours, if you will but 
believe in Him ; and wherever you may be, or 
however degraded, He, the once crucified, oppressed 






GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 143 

and bleeding, stands ready to fold you in His arms. 
Yea, he stands and knocks at the door of your 
heart, until His locks are wet with the dew of the 
evening. God always does His part." 

A COMPLETE PREPARATION FOR IT. 

The temperance of Mr. Murphy began in religion — 
under soul convictions. Had he become a temper- 
ance man, without embracing Christ, he never could 
have entered upon this gigantic and holy warfare. 
Men can be temperance men without being Chris- 
tians ; but no man can be a Christian without being 
a temperance man, however much debauchery and 
drunkenness may have blighted his faculties. Out 
of darkness and into light means, a reformation in 
all things which have to do with the soul. 

The jail has been well called " his trysting-place 
with the Spirit of the new life that had been be- 
queathed him." When his time of confinement 
ended he walked forth a herald and leader and un- 
furled his ensign boldly to the breeze. For a brief 
season he was cast down beyond all taste for labor 
of almost any kind. He was tried by affliction. 
But, he stood the ordeal, manfully. And, hereby 
he was made stronger for the sublime conflict 
awaiting him. 



144 THE TRUE PATH. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FIRST APPEARANCE AS A LECTURER. 

The time for the debut of Mr. Murphy as a lee- 
turer had come. Having had a highly favorable 
address, and being, to all appearances, gifted with 
earnestness and freedom in speech, several Christian 
gentlemen, who had become interested in his refor- 
mation, induced him to essay a public lecture in the 
City Hall, in Portland. This event transpired in 
the month of April. 

As he had numerous acquaintances throughout 
the city, and his recent remarkable reformation and 
success were all well known, the mere announce- 
ment, that he was to deliver a lecture, was sufficient 
to attract a large crowd. He had a well-packed 
house. Of course, he was surprised, and even some- 
what dismayed when he Game before the vast as- 
semblage of upturned faces. But, becoming warmed 
as he entered upon his theme, he soon lapsed into 
his native energy and singular earnestness. He 
reasoned from the standpoint of a bitter personal 
experience. All were in sympathy with the speaker. 
His maiden effort produced a profound impression 
upon his audience. 

SURPRISED AT THE RESULT. 

At the conclusion of his address, about the ouly 
dissatisfied person in the hall was Francis Murphy. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 145 

He had somehow gotten the impression that his 
effort was an inglorious failure. He attempted a 
sort of speedy retreat, by leaving the platform 
quietly, and going through the audience toward the 
door. His mind was pretty well made up that he 
could not meet with any degree of success in his 
newly selected field. 

Before, however, Mr. Murphy had left the place, 
he had more than fifty applications as a temperance 
lecturer, and, as another has put it, " he was in 
business up to his eyes." Of course, he was greatly 
surprised at this turn in matters, and began some- 
what to lose confidence in his rash opinions. 

Having met with so mach of kind and unre- 
strained encouragement, he determined to go on 
with the glorious work. In the course of time, he 
delivered some thirty-eight or forty consecutive lec- 
tures in Portland, with the most unqualified success. 
The effect of his labors was soon seen in the organi- 
zation of a " Reform Club," through which consid- 
erable advance was made against the rum power. 

HIS INFLUENCE EXTENDING. 

Soon the influence of the new aspirant to popular 
favor was felt beyond the confines of his own city. 
His services were in great demand in various parts 
of the State of Maine, and also in portions of New 
Hampshire. In these two States he labored largely 
for the space of nearly four years. 

Subsequently, he found his way into Iowa and 



146 THE TRUE PATH. 

Illinois, at the instigation of temperance people, and 
did valiant service. In Iowa he received the most 
flattering encomiums from the press. The name of 
the faithful worker, in many localities throughout 
the State, has become a household word. In Illinois, 
also, he made hosts of friends . Very many wretched 
men threw away their garments of dissipation, and 
donned those of sobriety and industry, in obedience 
to his appeals. 

In this latter State, he bravely aided the organiza- 
tion kuown as the " Womens' Christian Temperance 
Union," in several prominent instances. A refer- 
ence to one of these will no doubt interest the 
general reader. 

RALLIES THE PEOPLE AT FREEPORT. 

He visited, by invitation, the town of Freeport. 
From his first appearance on the rostrum, a new 
era seemed to dawn upon the temperance work in 
that place, For a long time previously the cause 
had been represented by a band of praying women. 
But they had not experienced any degree of success. 
It was evident that the opposition to their cause 
was too strong — the odds, too many. 

But what the brilliant leader, Gen. Phil. Sheri- 
dan, was to the demoralized and retreating Union 
forces, near Winchester, after his famous and peril- 
ous ride, Francis Murphy was to the forlorn tem- 
perance hope in the village referred to. He rallied 
their scattered forces. He filled them with fresh 






GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 147 

courage, and fired their souls with new hope. He 
completely turned the faces of the temperance peo- 
ple toward the foe, and in the name of Jehovah, 
urged them to move forward. 

A SANGUINARY STRUGGLE. 

And forward they went. It was a difficult and 
sanguinary struggle. Every time they succeeded 
in capturing one from the enemy, he insisted upon 
that one being pushed to the front and made a sort 
of commissioned officer. His bold and effective way 
struck his enemies with dismay. They found them- 
selves outwitted, and outgeneraled. They were 
flanked by the orator ; their ranks were weakened, 
and the reform forces greatly strengthened. Many 
men, useful and good, were released from their sin- 
ful and lustful bondage, and became valuable acces- 
sions to society, and the Church. 

And this is about the result of his labors every- 
where. He works in what may be called a winning 
way throughout. In the west, as in the north and 
other parts, he plainly, and modestly too, unveils 
the story of his sad life. His pathos attracts. His 
unfeigned regrets commend. His eulogy, upon him 
who helped him into the light, interests. His ap- 
peal to men to stand to the right convicts. And he 
is soon master of the hearts of his hearers. 

DIO LEWIS ASTONISHED. 

Near about the time, of which we have just been 
writing, in the fall of 1874, Mr. Murphy attended 



148 THE. TRUE PATH. 

the old Orchard Beach Camp Meeting in New York 
State. He delivered a temperance speech, in his 
peculiar way, which had a most telling effect. 
Very many persons were completely softened under 
his eloquent and fervid words. Dio Lewis had been 
announced to follow him. But the doctor declined, 
and used, in doing so, the following language : 

" I cannot make a speech after Mr. Murphy. I 
have heard speeches for forty years ; have been on 
the rostrum myself for over twenty-five years ; but 
I have never heard such a speech as his to-day. In 
God's name, keep thaf man telling his story all 
over the land, every night as long as his breath and 
strength are spared." 

ARRANGES TO GO TO PITTSBURG. 

Mr. Murphy visited Chicago, where he labored 
for a time, and with undiminished encouragement. 
While there he received and answered a letter from 
Chancellor Woods inviting him- to Pittsburg. This 
correspondence secured the services of Mr. Murphy 
for a series of eight lectures, in the Iron City, at 
twenty-five dollars a lecture. 

The Chancellor had been authorized to take such 
a step by the Young Men's Temperance Union — an 
association of young men banded together for the 
purpose of breaking ap the practice of using alco- 
holic drinks. They had been working quietly among 
themselves, with a reformed lawyer as president. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 149 



DISCOURAGED. 

At first, Mr. Murphy was discouraged in Pitts- 
burg. His labors did not seem to be accomplishing 
anything. There was a want of sympathy and en- 
thusiasm. He did not want much time for experi- 
ment. Something must be done outside the regulaf 
order of things. He felt unhappy. He was sitting 
in the Seventh Avenue Hotel talking to two news- 
paper men. He said he could not work that way 
among the churches, delivering lectures, but that if 
he had a room somewhere, so that he could get a 
dozen or so of the "boys" in, off the street, he 
thought he could do some good in Pittsburg. Felix 
Craeraft, a reporter, who was in the room, told him 
not to fret. [Murphy was weeping.] Cracraft told 
him not to worry about it ; that he would get him a 
room. He started out and got him the basement of 
the Fifth Avenue Methodist Church ; and there 
Murphy started his meeting with the " boys." 

When he was out, they would get to talking 
among themselves, telling their experiences and 
singing snatches of songs learned in childhood. 
From that, this movement spread throughout Pitts- 
burg and Allegheny City ; and there were as high 
as eighteen churches — the largest in the two cities 
— open there, for weeks, every night. 

AN UNEXAMPLED SUCCESS. 

Subsequently, when the engagement of Mr. Mur- 
phy proved an unexampled success, it was deemed 



150 THE TRUE PATH. 

advisable to retain him, for an unlimited period, at 
a salary of $125 per week and expenses. When the 
arrangement was effected, there was just eighty dol- 
lars in the treasury of the Temperance Union. The 
receipts, from specified lectures, netted the sum 
of $3,000, and defrayed all the expenses attending 
the great movement. 

The work spread rapidly and assumed interesting 
proportions. Many heard the leader and his con- 
verts from the merest curiosity ; but soon caught the 
contageous feeling, and went away filled with tem- 
perance energy, and a lively hope of the eventual 
triumph of the cause. The method by which all 
were actuated is thus adverted to : 

" The movement was for the reclamation of men 
addicted to drink, and not for the amusement of 
sober people. The glove was pulled off, and the 
naked, warm hand of help, charity and fraternity 
extended to all. No sectarianism cast a shadow 
upon it ; no illiberality rotted in its core ; no per- 
sonal assault was made upon legalized traffic ; no 
mask was worn on its face ; no fustian on its limbs. 
Naked, open-faced and clear-eyed, in all the brawny 
strength of truth, honor, justice and love, the move- 
ment seized the populace by the ears, and carried 
into captivity their hearts — a lesson for the present ; 
an example for the future." 

In the course of about four weeks the cause had 
-Q.ve thousand names enrolled. In about ten weeks, 
altogether, it had forty thousand. The meetings 
were always conducted with great regularity and 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 151 

informality. Mr. Murphy kept his genial nature 
throughout. Until the close of the engagement, 
there was manifested a steady flow of kindness and 
charitableness, as well as of triumph. 

PROMINENT CIRCUMSTANCES. 

In view of the prominent character of the three 
months' campaign in Pittsburg it seems proper 
here to allude to a few of the circumstances and 
incidents attending it. From the beginning, there 
were peculiarities noticeable in the lecturer, which 
gradually adhered to the work, and gave it fre- 
quently additional zest. He bequeathed it certain 
expressions, which are held among the young men 
as are precious heirlooms, often, in families. One 
is, " If you please," usually put to the end of his 
sentences, remarks, etc. Another, " Won't some- 
body please say amen !" And still another, the 
word " Prosbyterian," which is rather famous. 
And again, his " Just a word, brother," and the 
introductory, " Clothed in his right mind," are 
familiar to nearly all who have heard him. 

A studied effort, on the part of any one, was 
steadily disapproved by Mr. Murphy. "His heart 
seemed to run over in the work, and he preferred 
only the impromptu outpourings of those who were 
similarly affected. Those, who never before at- 
tempted a speech, enjoyed ease and freedom before 
the great audiences. Now and then, one began to 
sink, from want of confidence, as Peter did from 



152 THE TRUE PATH. 

want of faith, but the hand of Mr. Murphy was 
ready to help him through by some sudden act or 
word of strategy. Occasionally some glib-tongued 
orator would " strike an attitude," and essay an 
effort on the rostrum ; but Mr. Murphy, after re- 
peated " glories " and " aniens," would pleasantly 
urge, "Somebody please say amen," followed by, 
" A verse, if you please, Bro. Lincoln," and the 
voluble would retire in good humor. 

The speeches attending the movement have been 
of every kind, from gay to grave; from quaint 
reminiscences to most touching recitals. As a con- 
sequence, there has been an unstinted admixture of 
laughter and tears and applause. 

INCIDENTS. 

There have also been occasional instances of what 
the lecturer somewhat facetiously styles weddings. 
Ties that had been sundered by the violent hand of. 
intoxication, or a continuous course of dissipation, 
were readjusted. 

One evening a young man stepped up and signed 
the pledge. Scarcely had he done so, when a young 
woman, with a babe in her arms, came forward, and 
falling upon his neck, kissed him and wept. Drink 
had separated the young couple. With pledge 
in pocket, and the baby on one arm and his wife 
on the other, the husband walked through the 
crowd and received the congratulations of every- 
body. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 153 

At another meeting, a gentleman was walking up 
to sign the pledge, when a curly-headed little fellow, 
who had been nestling under a lady's arm, jumped 
up on the cushions of the pew they were seated in, 
and clapping his hands in childish glee, exclaimed, 
" Oh, Auntie ! Auntie ! there goes papa to sign the 
pledge. Now, let's go and tell mamma !" and the 
childish desire to make mamma happy brought 
tears to many eyes. 

Once in a while a ragged-looking stranger would 
approach. He seemed to think no one cared for 
him. Undemonstratively he would take the pen up, 
and, with tightly- closed lips, strike the blow at the 
enemy of his soul. Suddenly a fellowship rises up, 
surprises and surrounds him. His case was under- 
stood, and his special need met. Hands were ex- 
tended him, and endearing and encouraging words 
poured into his ear. 

Many other things, worthy of record, might be 
here furnished, did space permit. Yea, volumes of 
deep interest might be written, showing how bodies 
and souls have been liberated and saved. The 
work of Francis Murphy at Pittsburg, as, indeed, 
at many other points, will never appear, in its 
boundless and most glorious results, until the veil 
of Time is lifted, and the full blaze of Infinite 
Truth and Beauty is shed upon the disenthralled 
and redeemed of earth. 



154 THE TETJE P A, T H . 



CHAPTER XY. 

MR. MURPHY'S SERVICES SECURED EOR PHILADELPHIA. 

The fame of Mr. Murphy's labors in Pittsburg 
and vicinity, having reached Philadelphia, an in- 
terest was felt, at once, among a few of our most 
plilanthropic and public spirited men. The pro- 
gress steadily made was carefully watched ; and, as 
a result, the conclusion speedily arrived at, that 
similar success would follow here, could the orator 
be induced to appear before our people. 

Among the persons deeply concerned, in behalf 
of the need of the great city of Brotherly Love, 
was Mr. John Wanamaker, the merchant prince, 
whose great public spirit, and works of charity and 
benevolence, have endeared him far and wide to the 
masses around him. Taking the initiative steps 
alone, and upon his own responsibility, and being 
ready to defray all the expenses incurred, he 
secured the labors of Mr. Murphy for a definite 
period. The commodious and well-known Academy 
of Music, on Broad street was secured, by way of 
an introduction for the lecturer. Subsequently, the 
Mission House, a notable enterprise of Mr. Wana- 
maker's, in which he has a Sunday-school of nearly 
two thousand children to meet every Lord's day, 
was used as the place for Mr. Murphy's meetings. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 155 



PHILANTHROPISTS TAKE HOLD. 

Promptly, such men as George H. Stuart, whose 
unrivalled reputation as a true Christian philanthro- 
pist and humanitarian, stands everywhere ac- 
knowledged ; and Joshua L. Baily, the well-known 
merchant, and founder of the Coffee-house system, 
as a preventive to tavern-temptation ; and Samuel 
P. Godwin, the President of the Franklin Reforma- 
tory Home, took hold of the matter, when it was 
advanced step by step, to various points, bringing 
up, at last, at the large Tabernacle building, on 
North Broad Street. Even this was*often found 
too small for the throngs eager to catch at the elo- 
quence and interest steadily apparent in the work. 

WONDERFUL SUCCESS IN A SHORT TIME. 

"Words cannot give an adequate idea of the scene 
presented at each meeting, or of the truly won- 
derful success which has followed. Mr. Murphy's 
warmth of language, his evident devotion to the 
cause, his eloquent appeals to man's better nature, 
his kindness of manner, and his encouraging words 
have touched the hearts of every audience, and 
thousands after thousands of converts to the cause 
of temperance have in a very short time been made. 

MEANS OF SPREADING THE CAUSE. 

Then, again, the introduction of the plan of giving 
Sunday morning breakfasts, — of finding raiment 



156 THE TEUE PATH. 

for those in want, and employment for the unem- 
ployed, — has also worked wonders in spreading the 
cause. Men, who were on the verge of despair, 
finding that interest was taken in them, have be- 
come encouraged — new hopes have been excited, 
and they redeemed and reformed. 

After three months of arduous labors, over fifty 
thousand signatures had been secured to the Mur- 
phy pledge of total abstinence. From these, scores 
of men have been supplied with work, and received 
other necessary help. 



And, in such a multitude, it would appear strange, 
if some " frauds " had not turned up. The follow- 
ing words, taken from a daily paper, merit a place 
here: 

" The thing to wonder at is, that, out of the 
thousands of hardened men that have found their 
way to the Murphy meetings, not a greater number 
have been found unworthy of confidence. The 
4 frauds ' which have surrounded Murphy are really 
few. They are quickly detected and are sent on 
their way in short metre. One man has been sent 
to the penitentiary. This person had obtained an 
appointment as usher,' and for some time had worn 
his badge of office unsuspected. Finally, it was 
discovered that he was a thief, and, it having been 
proven that he had stolen a watch, he was convicted 
and sentenced. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 157 

" It is known that the pledge has been taken by 
some just for the purpose of bettering their condi- 
tion in a mercenary point of view. Quite a num- 
ber have come with a piteous tale of poverty and 
want, and have obtained clothing, which was at 
once taken down to " my uncle," and money suffi- 
cient to pay for a few drinks obtained. As a gene- 
ral thing such characters have been discovered, and 
they form but a small proportion of the cold-water 
army. 

MOVEMENT FREE FROM BAD MEN. 

" As a whole, however, the movement has been 
remarkably free from dishonest men, and, it is esti- 
mated, that from ninety to ninety-five per cent, of 
those who have signed will stick to their pledge." 

Some of the noblest names — belonging to the 
most influential families — have been wrested from 
the destroying hand. And, from among these, not 
a few have been freely given to the church — 
they having obtained the redemption of their bodies 
through the redemption of their souls. Many 
fathers and mothers will have cause, in the great 
day of accounts, to rise up and call Mr. Murphy 
blessed. 

NO EXAGGERATION. 

Of course, the great success which has attended the 
meetings has excited surprise and wonder at every 



158 THE TRUE PATH. 

hand. The reports of the numbers which thronged 
them, were, by many, considered as exaggerated, 
and little faith was placed in Mr. Murphy's power 
to accomplish the vast amount of good represented. 
But when they had seen with their own eyes, and 
heard with their own ears, they were, as has been 
said, by a prominent newspaper authority, " firm 
believers in his mighty power, through God, to re- 
form and redeem fallen man from the depths of 
degradation into which the habit of drunkenness 
had brought them." 

AT ONCE CONVINCED. 

At this , point, we will employ, from the paper 
just referred to, on account of their aptitude and 
correctness, the following reflections : 

" The evils of intemperance are known to those 
whom he addresses. In almost every breast there 
lurks a deep desire to burst from, the fetters with 
which it has bound them ; to lead new. lives, and be- 
come honored and -respected in society. They well 
know the many sorrows and trials that a career* of 
intemperance has brought upon them ; and hence it 
is when Mr. Murphy, in a persuasive and affection- 
ate manner, points out to them the way of relief, 
and shows the error of their ways, they are at once 
convinced of his truthfulness. 

"He touches the latent desire for a reformation. 
By his eloquence he arouses a feeling of resolve; 
and men are persuaded to exercise and put into ex- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. , 159 

ecution a will to do better. He shows that if we 
have not the will so to do, we surely cannot avoid 
that temptation which brings contempt, disgrace 
and misery." 

NO ABUSE. 

It has been said that in all the speeches made by 
Mr. Murphy," no one has heard him use a hard or 
unkind word .against those engaged in the sale of 
liquors, or any one else. His heart seems to beat for 
all. In the words of the authority just quoted: 

" He deals in no invectives ; wounds not the sen- 
sibilities (for these are possessed by all, in a greater 
or less degree) of the fallen ; but persuades and 
leads them to make an effort — for having once ob- 
tained their signature to the pledge, he knows one 
great point has been gained. This accomplished, he 
encourages them to keep it; and not by words 
alone, but by deeds. 

"A Divine. Providence has indeed blessed Mr. 
Murphy's labors. He has been made the humble in- 
strument of saving many souls and bringing them 
within the means of Grace. 

A LABOR OF LOVE. 

" To him, it is a labor of love. Night and day he 
pursues his self-imposed task, and with no other 
desire of reward than that of accomplishing grand 
results. That his very heart and soul are wrapped 



160 THE TRUE PATH. 

up id his cause, is evident from the fervent appeals 
made by him, at each and every meeting, with all 
the energy and lire of a true orator." 

Truly, we may add, to the foregoing thoughts, 
does Mr. Murphy consider the claims of humanity 
upon him ; and truly, does he seek to lure from 
their thraldom, the victims of the most cruel of 
habits — as, also, to succor the weak and oppressed. 



BUT ONE INSPIRATION. — NO PREJUDICES. 

Thus, in all his work, he has been nerved with a 
sense of the justice of his cause. Throughout all 
his labors in Pittsburg and Philadelphia, as every- 
where, his hopes have been seen to be fixed upon 
greater heights. His whole nature has soared out- 
ward to more permanent triumphs. His whole 
organism, natural and spiritual, has been apparently 
fixed upon one thought, one purpose, and one inspi- 
ration — that of Temperance ! Hundreds and thou- 
sands have been lighted by the truths he has fur- 
nished. They have been warmed by the affection 
he has exhibited. They have been won by the 
love he has mirrored. And all have been brought, 
unavoidably, to the conviction, that the Divine 
Hand is uppermost in the work done. 

Generally, in the midst of such achievements, 
there have risen up powerful prejudices. Isot so, in 
this instance. Mr. Murphy has overpowered any 
such feelings, if they have existed. His name and 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 161 

success carry with them the most unbounded re- 
spect and confidence, and would readily sweep aside 
all hindrances of an unworthy nature. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

FACTS ABOUT A SUNDAY BREAKFAST. 

Before leaving the subject of our last chapter — 
which concerns the temperance work in the Quaker 
City — it may be profitable to include here some facts 
given by a reporter, in connection with the " Sunday 
Breakfast" plan of Mr. Murphy. This has not 
only become quite a feature in the later period of 
the movement, but has been recently adopted at 
several points. They are as follows : 

"The success of what may seriously be termed the 
providential — it is certainly a ' happy idea ' of Mr. 
Murphy, the new apostle of temperance, to appeal 
to the conscience of the inebriate under the influence 
of a full stomach — was plainly manifested yesterday 
morning at the free Sabbath breakfast given under 
the auspices of the National Christian Temperance 
Union, in the annex building of the Academy of 
Fine Arts. 

" By actual count the breakfast was partaken of 
by five hundred and forty-three men, twenty or 
more women, several children, and a couple of 



162 THE TRUE PATH. 

babies ; the latter, although small in numbers and 
in their mother's laps, being the most demonstrative 
in the expression of the gratitude which was pic- 
tured on each and every countenance, without re- 
gard to sex, nativity, color, ' or previous condition 
of servitude ' to rum. 

CAPT. STURDIVANT PRESENT. 

" The occasion yesterday was increased iu interest 
from the fact that the man who, seven years ago, 
had rescued Mr. Murphy from .prison and shame, 
and thus restored him to his manhood, was present 
on the platform, sitting beside the man he had re- 
stored to society, and subsequently briefly address- 
ing the assemblage." 

On his way to the breakfast referred to the fol- 
lowing matters came under the said reporter's no- 
tice : 

WHAT A GROUP THOUGHT. 

" I tell you, I'd rather starve than go and be fed 
like a pauper," was the remark that fell on the ear 
as he passed a group of seedily-dressed men standing 
at the corner of Broad and Kace streets shortly 
before eight o'clock yesterday morning. The clouds 
were gathering and a rain was threatening at every 
moment. 

" I know how it will be ; we will all be gathered 
like dogs, or rather hogs, up to a narrow table, and 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 163 

a hundred or more of us, blacks and whites, will be 
tusseling with each other after a plate of weak soup ; 
and then we'll have to halloo out psalms and get 
down on our marrow bones for an hour or two, and 
then listen til) twelve o'clock all about how wicked 
we are and all that, as if we didn't know it already. 
No ; I say, boys, I think I can get that fellow over 
at the corner where we spent our money last night 
to 'hang us up' for a round of beer, and he'll have 
a" bully lunch — a whole lot of sausage, fixings, and 
black bread, besides tiptop soup at ten o'clock, and 
we can sit down and enjoy it ; what do you say ? 
Let's go over and see whether the landlord is up 
yet." 



STOPPED BY A YOUNG LADY. 

" Just as a decisive vote was taken by an advance 
movement toward the beer shop, the spokesman 
who led the way was stopped suddenly by a young 
lady, plainly but neatly dressed, and wearing a 
countenance expressive of pure benevolence. The 
innate nature of the man made him gentle enough 
to accept a printed card which she had politely ex- 
tended to him ; and the others followed his example 
with a ' Thank you, miss I' 

" 'Why, it's not a tract,' exclaimed the spokesman 
in astonishment after the young lady had passed on. 
' By Jove, if it ain't a polite invitation for us to go 
and take breakfast with Murphy.' 



164 



THE TRUE PATH. 



HOW THE THING WORKS. 

" ' Well, now, that's another kink. Murphy, I 
understood, says he was once as ' hard up ' and as 
' down in the heels' as we are. We are his peers ! 
and as Mr. Murphy is so polite as to extend us an 
invitation in his formal way, why we can't do any- 
thing else but to accept it, or send him a letter of 
regret.' 

"And the speaker and his companions laughed a 
very hungry laugh, as he gave the order, 'Right 
about face, boys ! I have known in my time what 
polite society requires. Murphy is a brick, and we 
mustn't go back on him.' 



IN THE BREAKFAST ROOM. 

"And the reporter followed the party into the 
breakfast room. The aroma of coffee that met the 
nostrils as one entered the door ma'de the appetite 
keen. A number of well-dressed young men were 
quietly but swiftly passing around among -five hun- 
dred or more of shabbily-dressed men and women, 
politely filling the neat cups of queensware which 
each of the latter held in their hands. 

" Then followed another company of young men 
with trays heaped with the most appetizing sand- 
wiches — not the sawdust sandwiches the traveller 
has to put up with at the railroad stations, but 



I 



GOSPEL TEMPEKANCE. 165 

sandwiches that ' melted in the mouth,' as it were, 
and made the eater an Oliver Twist, waiting ' more.' 

couldn't resist. 

"The reporter couldn't stand the temptation, and, 
although he had not received any formal invitation 
from Mr. Murphy, he went in and 'joined in the 
crowd,' and the thought of 'what a good provider 
Mr. Murphy must be ' had hardly revolved itself 
in the minds of his guests, as they were laying 
aside their cups and wiping their mouths, when the 
coffee and sandwich companies of young men came 
among them again — this time not only filling the 
cups, but inviting each and every guest to take a 
couple of sandwiches this time, or more if he felt 
he could ' go it.' 

THE WORSHIP. 

"And all this time a choir ot young ladies were 
singing the beautiful hymns, ' What a friend we 
have in Jesus ' and the like. So that after all had 
eaten, and Rev. Dr. Saul, of the Episcopal Church, 
had read the ' lesson of the day ' from St. Mat- 
thew, ' No man can serve two masters,' and Rev. 
Dr. Kynett had delivered an impressive prayer 
of thanks, the congregation got quite sociable and 
became like members of one family, saying, ' Ain't 
this jolly,' to each other, 

"And then some of the men began to adjust their 

8* 



166 THE TBUE PATH. 

hair a little neatly, brushing down the stray locks, 
etc., and the women ' spruced up ' their bonnets or 
head gearing and spread out their dresses in a way 
to hide any holes or patches. 

" It was noticeable that the large majority of the 
men had clean faces, although their countenances in 
many cases may have been a little weather-beaten. 

PLEASANT THINGS. 

" The dropping of a pin might have been heard 
when Mrs. Lincoln sang the beautiful hymn, ' What 
shall the harvest be V the entire congregation join- 
ing in the chorus iu voices, which although coarse, 
gave evidence of devotion. In the meantime, Mr. 
Murphy, Mr. Stewart, Rev. Dr. Westwood, Rev. Dr. 
Curry, and others, went among the people, shaking 
hands, congratulating those who had already signed 
and kept the pledge, and cheering others who had 
not yet, but contemplated doing so ; while a kindly- 
looking, white-haired physician went among the 
mothers giving them advice as to the ailings of their 
children and babies. One little youngster felt so 
contented that he tried playing hide-and-seek under 
the reporters' tables, which are located directly in 
front of the platform. 

ALL HAPPY. 

" Everybody seemed to feel at home and happy ; 
and as Mr. Murphy walked down the aisle arm-in- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 167 

arm with the well-known journalist familiarly called 
4 Deacon Jones ' — his latest convert of prominence — 
the people began to applaud ; but this was speedily 
checked when Mr. Baily reminded them of the 
day." 

a tippler's rebellion. 

Turning from the circumstances just narrated, it 
is important we should state, that this is not uni- 
versally considered a struggle in which, by kind- 
ness of words and acts, having reference to the 
science of gastronomy, men are drawn from the 
ranks of sin. Very many argue that the time had 
come for a rebellion against rum ; that the feeling 
among drinking men had been working that way 
for some time ; and that the country was ripe for a 
Francis Murphy, or some other man, to lead off the 
battalions who at last had become disgusted with 
their slavery. In other words, that the feeling, in 
these days of light and progressiveness, was strong 
that, since drunkenness is treated with marked dis- 
dain by public sentiment, there were an army of 
tipplers and drinkers, who wanted to find some 
" good excuse " — such as a highly wrought condi- 
tion of popular effort and sympathy — by which to 
get back to honor and sobriety. 

MURPHY, THE TRUE LEADER. 

Whilst we like the words a Tippler's Rebellion, in 
that sense ; we don't admit the premises, at all. 



168 THE TRUE PATH. 

Great movements, having the power of God in 
them, are felt not alone where great instruments are 
employed. Sometimes, they seem to embrace a 
whole land, and have the minds and hearts of peo- 
ple in a condition of receptivity, highly suggestive 
of the Almighty omnipresence and mercy. In such 
a case, we can well understand how the air is full of 
a great moral reform, and how the mere statement 
that a noble work is done at one point, will electrify 
and start another into a blaze of effort and enthu- 
siasm. This is a Murphy movement, because he is 
Divinely selected as the leader. But it is more than 
that. It is the power of a loving God especially 
exerted in behalf of thousands of poor perishing 
souls. -- 

THE LEAVEN OF RELIGION. 

Truths like the following, do not disprove our 
view ; but, per contra, show the leaven of religion 
among a class, for whom more prayers are daily 
offered, and more labors expended, than any other. 
We merely extract this report from among hundreds, 
of similar import, to show the character of the 
present temperance tide : 

" The history of the outbreak and results of the 
movement in the little town of Van Ettenville, "E. 
Y., may be taken as an example of what has been 
done in a hundred of other places in the southern 
tier of counties and northwestern Pennsylvania. 
4 Van Ettenville has had a terrible name,' Mr. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 169 

Arnold, formerly a hard drinker, said. Probably 
more liquor was drank there in a day than in any 
other town of its size in the State. 

HOW IT USED TO BE. 

" In political times whiskey used to flow in the 
streets. The side that could stand the largest num- 
ber of drinks won the fight. ' The boys' — Col. 
Caldwell, Gen. Gregg, and others — used to go up 
from Blmira and hold meetings that generally 
ended in glorious drunks. Why, they laughed at 
the crusaders, and thought it good fun. 

HOW THE CHANGE BEGAN. 

"About six weeks ago one of the best fellows 
there was going along the street, one morning, and 
met another. The first said : 4 You're looking better 
lately than I've seen you in a long time.' ' Well, I 
am better. Fact is, I havn't been drinking any- 
thing for about two weeks, and I've about made up 
my mind that I'll stop.' 'Just what I've been 
thinking of myself. Havn't we been making fools 
of ourselves long enough ? ' 

THE KESULT. 

Out of such a conversation as this the movement 
in Van Ettenville was begun. These two, with a 
few others, sent to Elmira for speakers for a meet- 



170 THE TRUE PATH. 

ing. The men who arranged for the meeting, who 
did all the work, and who packed the house were, 
or had been, drinking men. The place was carried 
completely. 

A SLIGHT INSTRUMENT. 

Another instance, in demonstration of the truth 
of our remarks, may, perhaps, satisfy the reader : 

The inauguration of the movement at Somerset, 
Ohio, was so peculiar as to warrant notice, and 
shows how slight an instrument may set this great 
machinery of reform in motion. Two carpenters, 
Taylor and Eagle, having squandered nearly all the 
pay for a certain work in drink, were finishing up 
in Stein's saloon. Taylor produced a Murphy 
pledge, which his brother, a reformed drinker at 
Lancaster, had sent him, and began to talk of the 
movement. Stein jeered at him, and offered him 
ten cents to sign it. He regarded it as an immense 
joke when Taylor did sign ; and Eagle, having no 
other pledge, signed the same card. A few days 
later, Dr. Rickey, one of Lancaster's noble workers, 
saw Taylor here, and gave him the eight pledges he 
happened to have with him. In less than an hour 
he was back for more. New pledges were ordered 
printed, and in a very short time the enthusiasm 
called for public meetings, and the Murphy move- 
ment was begun. 

And thus we find it through Indiana, New York, 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and throughout most of 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 171 

the States. By insignificant beginnings a flame of 
enthusiasm has been kindled. 

THE REPORTS FROM ALL PARTS. 

We cannot, in a work of this description, intended 
for the people of our whole country, either confine 
our thoughts to local successes, or regard the whole 
field, to any extent. This is impossible. But, we 
will remark, that we have before us reports from all 
portions, in the North, South, East, and West, 
showing how wonderfully .the tide of Temperance 
is washing over our immense domain. In some 
towns, and even small cities, one-half the people 
have signed the Murphy pledge. In others, nearly 
the whole population have signed. In others, all 
the taverns and saloons have closed, and the whiskey 
has been emptied into streets, or streams. In fact, 
people generally hardly know what to make of the 
present movement. As to where it will end, no one 
can be found courageous enough to hazard an 
opinion. 

But there is a deep feeling prevalent that the 
whole country is to be shaken as never before. 



CHAPTER XVII, 

RIBBON- WEARING. 

Following our brief remarks upon the so-called, 
by some, " tippler's rebellion," and the general upris- 



172 THE TRUE PATH. 

ing, we feel constrained to allude to another feature 
in this extraordinary campaigu. It is, the general 
disposition to be identified with the reform side of 
it in many parts. In Pittsburg, at various points 
West and South, and in parts of Pennsylvania, New 
York and other States, a bit of blue ribbon is worn, 
often in the shape of a neat tie, in a button-hole of 
the coat, by the friends of the Murphy movement. 

DIFFERENT COLORS. 

At some places red ribbon, as also white, is freely 
worn. For instance, wherever you walk in the 
streets of Indianapolis you will find nearly every 
third person with a red ribbon, every sixth with a 
white, and every tenth with a blue. The blue is 
worn by members of the " Murphy " League, an or- 
ganization that differs slightly from the Red Ribbon 
in the framing of their constitution and form of 
pledge. The white ribbon is worn by women and 
youths under eighteen, and might be termed the 
badge of a side degree of the Red Ribbon League, 
women and children not being allowed to enter into 
full communion. The difference between the form 
of the blue ribbon pledge, and the red ribbon, is only 
slight, as will be seen by a comparison of the Mur- 
phy pledge, published at the beginning of this vol- 
ume, and the following : 

THE RED RIBBON PLEDGE. 

" We, the undersigned, for our own good and the 
good of the world in which we live, do hereby 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 173 

promise and engage, with the help of Almighty- 
God, to abstain from buying, selling or using alco- 
holic or malt beverages, wine or cider included." 

GOOD PURPOSES. — THE STRUGGLE. 

The wearing of the ribbon has various good pur- 
poses ; and, among others, can scarcely fail to protect 
the wearer against that greatest of all temptations, 
the invitation to take a drink. 

The Murphy Club, at the point referred to, is more 
recently organized than the Eed Eibbon League, but 
bids fair to equal it in point of numbers. 'Not sl 
few places in the West show a goodly proportion of 
red badges, and tend to confirm the opinion that the 
struggle against the monster evil of our day, so over- 
powering and varied in its effect, as also universal, 
has its origin in the Great Head of our Holy Eeligion. 

MURPHY, THE LEADER. 

Nevertheless, we would be untrue to ourselves, did 
'we not here insist, that after a thorough canvass of 
the whole field, it is evident that the great human 
leader is the subject o£ this biography. Other move- 
ments have had great leaders, in all instances. This 
one has but a single general at its head, and that man 
is Francis Murphy. 

ALL ARE MURPHY'S FOLLOWERS. 

In the West, where a grand work is progressing, 
the prominent men are chiefly Murphy's followers. 



174 THE TRUE PATH. 

In a single report, from the " Queen City " of the 
West, we have the following fact : 

" Last evening a ' Murphy meeting ' was held at 
the Presbyterian Church on Sixth street, presided 
over by three gentlemen. Mr. McMasters opened 
with one of the most thrilling appeals I ever heard 
from any platform. The man was terribly in earnest, 
and at its conclusion, while the choir sang ' Hold 
the Fort,' scores of men, women and children sur- 
rounded the pledge tables that they might give in 
their adherence to the cause. 

PEOPLE DEMANDING TO SIGN. 

"The large building was crowded. The young and 
the old, the rich and the poor, male and female, 
obeyed the call. Men. in the last stages of inebria- 
tion staggered to the front and demanded an oppor- 
tunity to sign. Wives led their husbands, and little 
children their fathers, until, the hour of midnight 
approaching, the vast crowd slowly dispersed. These 
gatherings are invariably conducted under the au- 
spices of prayer, for they say it is Grod's work and 
not man's. 

" Touching scenes- are witnessed in these assem- 
blies. Those who have been severed from their 
families because of their appetite for liquor are there 
united with them again ; young men, who have been 
travelling down hill, come up with their mothers, 
and, amid tears of joy and the congratulations of 
friends, their names go down, the blue badge is 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. * 175 

pinned on, and they go out determined to ' hold 
the fort.' " 



FIREBRANDS. 

In searching among the reports from all sections, 
it is apparent that the movement is rightly named, so 
far as its human paternity is concerned. The pupils 
and converts of the Irish temperance orator, are 
scattered abroad among the States and are as fire- 
brands ; for they are lighting up the hills and val- 
leys from one end of our country to the other. Yea, 
more, they go beyond our degree, or system of civili- 
zation, and stepping across the boundary lines, in- 
flame the people of the Canadas, and here and there 
awaken the drowsy minds of far off Europe upon this 
subject. 

" DO THEY STICK." 

An important question in connection with this sub- 
ject is, do those who sign the pledge keep it? In 
answer to this we will refer to a paragraph from a 
Pittsburg authority: ''Another peculiar feature of 
this revival is the amount of 4 sticking ' that is being 
done. Heretofore it has been too often the practice 
to reform one day and go around as an awful example 
the next. But in the present instance it is different. 
The pledge has now been open for signatures over 
nine weeks, and out of the forty thousand who have 
signed it, the 4 back-sliders ' would not make a cor- 



176 THE TRUE PATH. 

poral's guard. The men who sign seem to identify 
themselves with the movement, and are constantly on 
hand at all the meetings. They encourage one 
another, and it is a very rare thing to hear the 
revival spoken of disrespectfully by anyone." 

In addition, we are reliably informed that John 
Lang, the railroad man of Pittsburg, says that, out of 
5000 of his employes who .have taken the obligation, 
but three have thus far fallen, and I think that this 
is a sufficient answer to the question. 

In Philadelphia, it is a matter of common report 
that from the thousands of inebriates, and " respect- 
able " drinkers who have signed during the first 
three months' campaign, not a " baker's dozen " have 
fallen away. On the contrary, they are as full of 
good purpose, and as eager to continue the struggle, 
as it is possible for men to be. The statements of the 
Murphy Committee are evidently as reliable as it is 
possible for anything of the kind to be, and they 
show that, in this work, as never before, the men 
honor and hold high their noble pledges. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

MR. MURPHY'S COMPENSATION. 

As has already been stated, Mr. Murphy received 
a certain^amount of compensation while in Pittsburg. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 177 

He has, also, been in receipt of a stipulated amount 
while in Philadelphia. This method has been ren- 
dered imperatively necessary from the fact that Mr. 
Murphy cannot live upon the wind. He has been 
engaged, an authority has said, "in the temperance 
work for seven years, and during that time his com- 
pensation has been such only as has come to him 
through voluntary contributions, and these amounts 
have often been inadequate to the paying of his per- 
sonal expenses. 

URGED TO LECTURE. 

" Mr. Murphy has repeatedly been urged to leave 
his present field of labor, to accept invitations to lec- 
ture at the rate of two hundred dollars a night, but 
has steadily refused, fearing that under the peculiar 
reasoning which some people always adopt at these 
popular uprisings, it might create issues which would 
affect his influence as a reformer, and that his motives 
might be misconstrued. 

CONSENTS, BUT CANCELS ENGAGEMENTS. 

" Recently, however, Mr. Murphy's personal friends, 
claiming that he had the right to provide for the 
future wants of himself and family of six children, 
with the same propriety with which ministers of the 
gospel and others engage in charitable work to pro- 
vide for their wants, induced him to consent to deliver 
twenty lectures for $200 each. 



178 THE TRUE PATH. 

" His first lecture was to have been delivered at 
Titusville, Pa. Considerable adverse criticism was 
excited by the publication of his acceptance of the 
offer, justifying the orator's fears ; so he immediately 
cancelled all his engagements on such terms, and will 
be dependent upon voluntary contributions for his 
support." 

In reference to this subject, the New York Sun, 
after some adverse criticism upon Mr. Murphy's 
lecturing project, sent a reporter to the orator for the 
purpose of interviewing him, which resulted in 
eliciting the following from him : 

A PAUPER. 

"I am not worth a dollar in the world. I am 
really a pauper, and that is a hard thing to say. I 
have six children; two I am educating at college, one 
is with me as my private secretary, one with me be- 
cause he has nowhere else to be, one married daugh- 
ter, and a son in Pittsburg. Now these little ones 
are absolutely dependent on me for support. 

" Seven years ago I owed $7,000. That I have 
paid off, all but $500.- My wife died in 1870. Now 
everywhere that I have been I have relied entirely 
upon the voluntary contributions for my support and 
my children's. It is hard to be dependent on real 
charity, but I am human, and have wants. 

"A few days ago I went to Elmira by request and 
delivered a lecture on temperance. For this I re- 
ceived $200, and I needed the money sadly. Then I 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 179- 

was urged, to go to Titusville. I wrote them the 
letter that was printed in the Sun. I had also ac- 
cepted some twenty other engagements to lecture at 
that price. 

MAKING A MISTAKE. 

" Then I saw the Sun's article, and the Sun was 
right in its reasoning. I had felt that I was making 
a mistake, one that would make the view the Sun 
took a just one. People would say, ' Of course he 
preaches temperance when he can make $200 a night 
by it. 5 I had felt that I ought not to do it, but I 
was persuaded against my better judgment, and I 
cannot blame the Sun for expressing what must have 
been the views of thousands. I am glad it did it, for 
it convinced me that my apprehensions were right in 
the first place, and I immediately cancelled every 
one of my engagements. 

A FACT NOT UNDERSTOOD. 

"At the same time I don't think it is generally 
understood that this lecture was outside of my regular 
work. It is a specially prepared lecture, treating of 
temperance as a social and economic question wholly. 
It has nothing to do with my work, that of urging 
on men the duty and benefit of abstinence. 

" The only wrong about it is that it gives color to 
the charge that I am making money out of my prin- 
ciples, and that, of course, must, unless checked, hurt 



ISO THE TRUE PATH. 

my work. Yes, the Sun took the natural view of it ; 
and no one can say after this that I get anything ex- 
cept that which will pay my own and my children's 
expenses." 

STRICTURES. 

The National Temperance Advocate, in an article 
upon the above, as well as the strictures that here 
and there have been dealt upon those of the front 
in the movement, has spoken out freely. We leave 
the reader to his own conclusions : 

" The enemies of temperance have always raised a 
great hue and cry about men who are working in 
the temperance cause, charging that they were ' mak- 
ing money out of it. 7 This has been especially so in 
the Keform movement. 

THE LABORER WORTHY. 

"At Pittsburg this cry was raised, and we are 
sorry to hear that Mr. Murphy and his friends noticed 
it or were troubled about it. The laborer is worthy 
of his hire. The enemies of temperance have always 
raised this cry against those who were effective in 
doing anything against the traffic. Dr. Reynolds 
aud Col. Hoy are also receiving the same treatment. 
This is a sign that somebody is getting hurt. 

" We beg our friends not to mind or notice this 
device of the devil. Pittsburg cannot pay Mr. 
Murphy in dollars and cents for his great and good 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 181 

work there, nor the other host of faithful, devoted 
workers who have been so successful. 



COULD EARN MORE IN OTHER DIRECTIONS. 

" Those who labor in- this cause, giving their time 
and best efforts, are entitled to a fair remuneration 
for the same. These men could earn a far greater 
sum of money with their talents applied in other di- 
rections, but are consecrated to their work, and 
should not notice these feeble attempts of the enemies 
of temperance to impede the progress of the move- 
ment so full of glorious results." 

MR. MURPHY'S WORDS SUBSTANTIATED. 

In corroboration of the remarks made by Mr. 
Murphy, to the reporter of the Sun, that he has been 
opposed to the lecturing business, we will here furnish 
a few remarks made to a Cincinnati reporter by Mr. 
Smithson, one of Mr. Murphy's friends and helpers : 

" I have seen him refuse $400 a night. He goes 
in for the work, not for the money. Theodore 
Paisley offered him $250 a night for four months. 
He offered to guarantee him that amount to go lec- 
turing over the country. This he refused because he 
is working to save men. He wants to go to a place 
and stay there, and work it up thoroughly before he 
leaves. When he goes into a place he wants to be 
free to go and come whenever he has a mind to." 



1S2 THE TRUE 7 



CHAPTER XIX. 
iip.. :,:~?ht's :hilpke3-. 

Iez reaper may iesire :: ::.: s aaething o: 
family ;: Mr. '.'..:: : . :: :;.: :. ;; t :;.;.. f ri.i 
isfiics of the man : - this bio- 

^rarav. Seyea :ai-a:ea were ;ae :rui:s ;: his mar- 
riage, :: whom six are : 

is married and resides in Porl 
rhe others* four boys and one girl, are living 
Sterling, Illinois. One of his sons bas bee 

ing him, in his travels, and during his labors, 
and acting in the capacity of priva te 5 acrei 

TEZ 17:777.17. EIYSZ17. 

:':j is si:::: s::at man, of fine physique. 
weighing about one hundred and eighty pounds. He 
has a large, well-:- head, heav - and 

moustache, rather prominent fea: 
graj eyes, His presence is attractive and imposing. 
Z: is largely supplied ith what is known as animal 
a net ism, and has about him a 
alar. 

WHSH E 

a he talks to an a af his 

friends, a short time s 






GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 183 

in an easy manner at first, but generally, after he has 
spoken slowly and smoothly for a while, an inspira- 
tion seems to strike him ; he sets himself as if he was 
going to give a man a blow, and for ten or fifteen 
minutes the language flows from him like a stream of 
water from a great fountain. You might as well take 
hold of a magnetic battery as to take hold of his hand 
sometimes to shake hands with him. He is a very 
attractive man, all sympathy, all heart." 

A SUPERIOR CHARACTER. 

In all respects, he is a superior character. Some 
of his friends in Pittsburg, have used the following 
language, in a brief description of him : 

" He is one of nature's noblemen, honest, straight- 
forward, never afraid to say what he thinks, yet at all 
times filled. with the kindest regard for the feelings 
of others. He makes no obeisance to wealth or posi- 
tion, and humbles himself only before the sorrows of 
his fellowmen. In other words, a man " with a heart 
to love, and courage to make that love known." His 
devotion to the temperance cause is a mania with 
him ; and his purse is as open as his heart to the cry 
of distress, but unfortunately, not as full. His re- 
ligious convictions are also intense, and his quaint, 
trustful reliance upon the Saviour has all the sim- 
plicity of a little child. Underlying all this sim- 
plicity and mildness, however, is a force of will and 
determination of character that speaks the man born 
to lead his fellowmen." 



i 



184 THE TKUE PATH. 

He is naturally quick and impulsive. Yet he has 
a sensitiveness of the most pronounced kind. He is 
as tender as a child. Disappointment and indiffer- 
ence on the part of some, who have unintentionally 
wounded him, have roused within him a feeling that 
has, in instances, brought him to his knees, in 
earnest and importunate prayer, that the evil spirit 
might be entirely removed from him. 

"bother their blarney." 

Mr. Murphy is always hunted by his friends and 
surrounded by them. You can seldom find him 
alone, or at rest while in a campaign. Homage 
and adulation meet him at every hand. Often he is 
compelled, on account of the ovations accorded him, 
to press his way, under great difficulty, through his 
friends, " yet," returning to the words of the pub- 
lished account alluded to, " as he shoulders and 
elbows his way through his admirers, so has he 
shouldered and elbowed his way through the snares 
and seductions which their admiration has laid in his 
path, his private battle-cry being, ' bother their 
blarney.' 

" He had been in Pittsburg two months before he 
accepted any of the many invitations, of a social 
nature, poured in upon him. And his retirement 
was at last broken in upon only by the intimation 
that he was developing a lack of sociability out of 
tune with his ardent nature. So, in refutation of this, 
he occasionally forsook the privacy of his rooms, and 
accepted a few invitations to dinner and tea. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 185 



IS NOT UNSOCIAL. 

"Lest this might lead to a false conception of his 
character, it is but fair to say that he is not unsocia- 
ble, in any way. All meet with a warm reception 
from him. He is always pleased to chat, and has a 
peculiar way of looking a speaker or listener in the 
eyes, and saying just what he thinks, in a positive 
way. 

"For mere curiosity-seekers, who intrude upon his 
privacy as though he were some rara avis on exhibi- 
tion, though he has a courteous reception and genial 
manner, he is not slow in evincing a distaste. Let 
any one come to him charged to the brim with tem- 
perance, and Mr. Murphy is immediately in his ele-. 
ment, and can talk and listen, for he is a good 
listener, — a subject more rarely met with than a good 
talker. He can sit and converse with such an one as 
though he would never weary, until at last time ap- 
prises him that the hour of meeting approaches, and 
then generally ensues a highly interesting scene. 

"that hat." 

"'Where's my hat? . Now what's become of that 
hat ? I left that hat here, or somewhere else ; and, 
I'm sure of it; in fact, I know I did.' The visitor 
so appealed to immediately lends his assistance in 
the search for the hat. The stranger naturally looks 
on tables, bureaus, and pegs; but Mr. Murphy, more 



186 THE TKUE PATH. 

wise in his own ways, looks under the bed, and under 
the washstand, lest ' that hat ' should have deter- 
mined to retire from business into such an unlooked- 
for privacy. 

" No hat turning up, a pair of boots are vigorously 
seized upon and pounded together by the heels, as 
though they had entered into a conspiracy to hide 
the hat away down in unfathomable depths. Next 
the bedclothes and half the mattress undergoes an in- 
vestigation, and, just as the hatless orator casts con- 
fiscating glances at the tile of his visitor, as if he con- 
templated seizing upon it and making a bolt for 
liberty and the evening meeting, a corner of the 
truant hat peeps out from beneath a pile of news- 
papers, clothes, brushes, books and sundries, and is 
seized upon in triumph. That hat has a most un- 
accountable way of strolling around on its own hook. 

IT RAMBLES ABOUT. 

" Scarcely a meeting occurs that it does not, after 
seeing its owner well warmed up in his work, slyly 
levant. It rambles around on a voyage of discovery 
from one side of the chancel to the other : hob-nobs 
with other hats; fraternizes with all the chair bot- 
toms it can come across, tangles itself up with over- 
coats, and at last takes a ride on the toe of some boot 
into an obscure corner, where it lays, chucklingly 
awaiting its owner's anxiety, and the familiar cry of 
' where's my hat?' at the close of the meeting. 

" It went off once, and was gone two days, and at 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 187 

last turned up under the hotel parlor's sofa, looking 
as though it had been keeping very bad company. 
The hat secured, and overcoat on, the next subject 
of anxiety becomes his overshoes. After laborious 
search one is discovered in the hat box, and with the 
resigned consideration that he can use that foot to 
step in the mud with while he pilots the other on dry 
land, he takes his visitor by the arm, and as the two 
proceed accidentally thrusts his hand in an overcoat 
pocket, and, with a dazed look of astonishment, 
draws out the other shoe. How it got there is mat- 
ter for profound speculation, until the course of cogi- 
tation is rudely interrupted by an impetuous saluta- 
tion, 4 1 want you to come up to meeting, to-night ! 
Now, you must come,' as he chances across some 
one, who, though a perfect stranger, may look as 
though a pledge in his pocket would do him good. 

MR. MURPHY NOT ARTIFICIALLY RESERVED. 

" There is nothing distant, and no artificial reserve 
about Mr. Murphy. He never hesitates to speak to 
a man (in the interest of ' the cause ') because he 
does not know him. 

" If he passes a saloon-keeper, standing at the door 
of his saloon, it's ' Brother, I want to shake hands 
with you,' and the hand of the person solicited is 
never refused ; but, in short order, the best of feel- 
ings are inaugurated between the two men, whose 
avocations are so antipodal. 



188 THE TRUE PATH. 



SCRUPULOUSLY TIDY. 

" Judging by the tricks played upon him by that 
hat and those gum shoes, a stranger might be led to 
infer that Mr. Murphy was careless in the matter of 
personal appearance. Nothing could be more remote 
from the truth. There are no eccentricities, of either 
dress, deportment or genius, about him. Personally, 
he is scrupulously clean and tidy, and has a great 
regard for neatness of attire, as well as neatness of 
demeanor." 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 189 



PART III -INTERESTING 
ADDRESSES AND EXTRACTS. 



CHAPTER XX. 

SPEECH OF MR. MURPHY AT COLUMBUS. 

As many readers will want to have before them a 
full speech of the great Temperance Apostle, so that 
they may become acquainted with his style, we have 
selected, as a fair specimen, an address delivered by 
him at the Opera House, at Columbus, Ohio, in June, 
1877. It is characteristic, and will amply repay a 
perusal : 

" Mr, Chairman ; My Friends : — I am glad to be 
here to-night and listen to the testimony of these two 
Christian gentlemen who have been the means, under 
God, of bringing joy and peace to so many hearts. 
I am glad to be here, and to stand on this platform 
and have the honor of being introduced by this 
young gentleman, who has been redeemed through 
the kind ministrations of my brother David Hall, 
and who, to-night, stands erect in all the dignity of 
his new-born life, and can stand up and say, ' I know 
9* 



190 THE TRUE PATH. 

that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- 
solved, I have a building of God, a house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens.' And though 
this work should cease, and though nothing else 
should have been accomplished through the visit to 
your city but the redemption, the complete redemp- 
tion, of this young man would be a sufficient remu- 
neration for every cent that you have paid out, for 
every night that yon have spent and for every prayer 
that you have uttered. May God bless the move- 
ment, and may it continue to go on until the last 
wandering son has been redeemed and brought back 
to his father's house, and received the best robe and 
the gold ring and pair of shoes. Thanks be to God 
for the triumphs of this moral reform that has nothing 
in it of malice, nothing in it of hatred, nothing in it 
of egotism, nothing in it of self- righteousness ; for we 
don't stand off and pray and thank G-od that we are 
not like other people ; that we pay our taxes and 
tythes, and such things as that ; we prefer to stand 
by the foot of the cross and say, ' Lord, be merciful 
to me, a sinner.' That is our prayer ; and with it 
we shall go forth, not claiming any self-righteousness, 
not claiming that we are holier than others, and fear 
to come in contact with our fellow-men when we 
meet them, lest our garments become soiled ; but if 
you are men, by the grace of God ; if the golden links 
of the brotherhood of man have been, so to speak, 
clinched around our hearts, and by God's invisible 
angel carried to the everlasting throne and there se- 
curely fastened — if this has been done, we can go 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 191 

down into the wilderness, blessed be Grod ; we can go 
down into the wilderness and to the solitary places, 
and to the prisons of this country and proclaim lib- 
erty to the captives and the opening of a better life to 
the oppressed of this country, to the weeping wives 
and starving children. 

A TRIBUTE TO " BROTHER DAVID" AND " BROTHER 
GEORGE." 

"I would like to pay a fitting tribute to the men 
who have been engaged in this work. I have no 
need of saying anything of these men to you; a eu- 
logy is not called for ; but I want to say that these 
two plain men you see on this platform — Brother 
David and Brother George — in the city of Pittsburg, 
when they came to sign the pledge, astonished the 
natives, to use a homely expression; and if this 
movement has been a success in the city of Pittsburg, 
T wish to say to you that these men have contributed 
as much to that success as Frank Murphy. [Ap- 
plause.] I have done very little for this movement 
in comparison with what other men have. 

THE GOOD WORK OP THE PRESS. — THANKS TO 
CITIZENS OF COLUMBUS. 

" The press of this country has done a great work 
for this movement, and I wish now to express my 
heartfelt thanks for the kind consideration I have 
received in your city, knowing well that I come to 



192 THE TRUE PATH. 

you making no profession of scholar ship or oratory, 
for I was starved in the morning of my life ; school- 
houses were scarce where I was born, and it was con- 
sidered best not to allow the boys to go over there 
beyond where he might receive a religious education, 
for fear his religious ideas might be proselyted to 
some extent, and hence I had to be caged up. 



A PLEA FOR EDUCATION. 

"And let me say to you I would not advise you not 
to go to school, no matter what the religious belief of 
the teacher is, because knowledge is power wherever 
you go, and it is knowledge that makes men strong 
and noble, and enables them to stand up so evenly- 
balanced with such a magnanimous spirit and heart 
that all who know them can stand up and say, 
'There, that is a man.' And it is a pity for us who 
have been deprived of an education and are compel- 
led to stand before the world feeling the necessity of 
it. It is a beautiful thing for the American people 
that when an American comes up to sign the pledge, 
but very few of them will stand up and just make an 
excuse, with their finger on their forehead and say, 
* Will you please sign my name?' You will see 
very few of them make their scratch. It is some- 
thing you have reason to be proud of. The founda- 
tions of truth and justice are laid in intelligence in 
this country. I believe that is the power that moves 
the whole of this country. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 193 



MAN IMMORTAL. 

" It is the grandest thought that can come to me to 
night, that I am a man with a living, breathing soul 
within me, and that the world, grand and glorious as 
it is to-night, with its sloping hillsides decorated with 
God's precious flowers — lilies of the valley, attired in 
their wonderful splendor — as God has woven them 
into His carpet ; they, too, speak to us ; yes, and 
from babbling springs, and from flowing brooks, and 
from great streams that leap to the ocean, and from 
the grand mountains that break forth before you into 
singing, and the golden harvest-fields that wave be- 
fore you, bringin 2; God so near to you that, reverently, 
man should take off his hat while He speaks to us in 
everything; standing before you in the limitless 
prairie, and heaven, with its bright" constellations 
looking down upon us with so sweet, so pure, so 
holy a light, oh, how they touch the divinity that is 
within ! how the longing soul seeks for that trans- 
parent beauty that speaks to us in these bright gems 
that are put there by the sacred power of God Him- 
self, beyond the reach of man, beyond the reach of 
sin, beyond the reach of wrong, the living, perpetual 
and eternal testimony of His own power; omnipotent 
in Himself, speaking to us to-night with a language 
too holy for utterance; and from the sea that He 
holds in the palm of His hand, and from the moun- 
tains that have been weighed in the balance ; the 
seasons that come and go, touching everything about 



194 THE TEUE PATH. 

us, telling of their approach and their departure. 
When these things shall have passed away, the im- 
mortal soul, the divine power that is within* us, by a 
power known only to itself, on the invisible wings of 
its own faith and own might, can soar beyond all this 
and pass in the twinkling of an eye to the very con- 
stellations, and stand and gaze upon their beauty ; 
sweep beyond them through the milky way and 
stand at the pearly gates of God's eternal city and 
into the golden streets, and can stand on the banks 
of the river of life and can behold the water of life as 
it courses from the throne of God, can stand under 
the shadow of the tree of life, and by a faith beyond 
the power of darkness or distance to dim, can see the 
golden streets and purple fruit that is made for the 
healing of the nations. Oh, to be a sober man ! 
What a grand thought! To be a sober man, re- 
deemed, saved, and every chain broken ; a man 
restored to his sober, virtuous, Christian manhood. 
I thank God that I am a man ; I thank God that he 
made me so ; I am no material thing, but a living, 
breathing soul ; and the world, to-night, with all its 
beauty and grandeur, when it is swept out of exist- 
ence, this soul shall live on forever, during the cease- 
less ages of eternity ; blessed be God for this thought. 
[Great applause.] 

IT PAYS TO BE SOBER. — STRENGTH OF APPETITE. 

" Yes, it pays to be sober — it pays to be sober. 
This new life that comes to me to-night, I have no 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 195 

language to describe it to you. It is universally 
admitted among sensible and candid people, every- 
where tbat drunkenness is the great curse of our so- 
cial national life. It is not characteristic of Ameri- 
cans, for the same may be said with greater emphasis 
of the social life of Great Britain ; but it is one of 
the things about which there can be no doubt, that 
cholera and typhoid fever, and all the rest of dis- 
eases that come to us, bring less of fatality and in- 
finitely less of sorrow. There are wives, mothers 
and children to-night, within every circle that em- 
braces the young lives, who are weeping over some 
victim of the seductive destroyer. Bast, West, North 
and South there are men and women who can not be 
trusted with liquor in their hands ; men and women 
who have ceased to fight the appetite that has power 
within itself to destroy everything that makes life 
desirable; men and women who, when they see the 
labels of intoxication painted on the windows, as 
they pass by, feel the blood coursing faster in their 
veins ; so to speak, they can almost taste it in their 
mouths, because of this terrible appetite that they 
have cultivated and brought to such wonderful per- 
fection. In passing along the street where liquor is 
they will inhale the fragrance, and are almost com- 
' pelled to stop and wait around. There is a fascination 
about it ; they feel the want and necessity of it ; want 
of just this stimulant to lift them up ; they are dreary 
and weary and disconsolate, and just a little sick. 
Oh, how precious it would be to the longing appe- 
tite. And ? I think, to-night, in this great work of 



196 THE TRUE PATH. 

reform how much we need Christian charity and Chris- 
tian sympathy to be able to measure the strength of 
appetite. Men are not brought there immediately, 
but after years of respectability and years of pleasant 
life, and of passing back and forth through respect- 
able society, and being toasted as the acknowledged 
guests and brightest stars in your city, have culti- 
vated this appetite until it became a mad passion, 
and they lose control of themselves, and then are, so 
to speak, kicked out on the street, and it is said, 
' You are a miserable drunkard, aud good for noth- 
ing.' And the case of these men has been looked 
upon as entirely hopeless, and no person cares for 
them. I think that this movement is a special dispen- 
sation from God Himself, to redeem the poor unfor- 
tunate drunkard ; and while the great temperance 
movements heretofore sought to keep men from be- 
coming drunkards, while the poor men who have 
been wounded in the battle, whose arms have been 
broken and their reason dethroned, and they become 
maniacs on the street, are left with no person to take 
them to an inn and pay their bills, this movement 
seems to be a necessity of the present state of tem- 
perance, and must, and by the grace of God it will, 
quicken the Church and the hearts of humanity. I 
believe it will compel us to go out into the world and* 
save these poor wanderers. 

WINE AT SOCIAL PARTIES. 

li In spite of what we see of men, socially, and the 
terrible appetite, the terrible temptation, and the 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 197 

power it has over some men, notwithstanding the 
fact that all this is known, yet there are gentlemen 
in society who give parties, and ladies who issue 
their cards, and send them out to William and James 
and John, saying that 'Susan desires the pleasure of 
their company at her house on a certain evening.' 
All this is very nice, and Susan is a splendid girl, 
and James and William don their best suits and get 
their girls, and how they will go down there. Yes, 
sir, the arrangements have all been made. It is 
among the bon ton, the best people of the place. It is 
just the place for a fine time, and William is just 
the man to give it. His heart is as great as he is 
wealthy ; what a queenly wife he has too, and how 
she adorns things about the place. Yes, indeed. 

11 The young men look forward with anticipation, 
and the ladies have their suits made ; the young men 
have theirs prepared for the occasion ; the coachmen 
are dressed in their livery, don their high collars and 
silk hats and the horses are all aglow, if you please, 
for the occasion ; they seem to catch the spirit of it. 
The drivers are more erect and graceful, and their 
whips have a silvery tongue to them that the horses 
seem to understand. Why, the whole air is pregnant 
with the spirit of the occasion; the carriages start 
off, and soon the house can be seen on the hillside. 
You can see the beautiful pine trees and the beau- 
tiful blossoming trees and the weeping willow grace- 
fully bending almost to the earth to kiss it. Through 
the trees can be seen the strange intoxicating light 
of the Chinese lanterns, that tell you the whole 



198 • THE TRUE PATH. 

palace is alive with joy. Soon the carriages roll up, 
one after another. The bell rings and there is a com- 
mittee of gentlemen and ladies in waiting to receive 
you, with a ' How are you ? Welcome, welcome ; 
here, in this way ; this way, if you please ;' and their 
hats and coats are taken, and everything is arranged 
in the most classical style. Why, we become as 
young as we used to be as we step into the spacious 
reception rooms filled with the fragrance and beauti- 
ful bouquets, and see the young and beautiful .guests. 
It seems to be a new paradise that has opened up be- 
fore Charles, and William and James. There are 
folding doors that extend across, between the rooms, 
and Susan has opened them. By and by the most 
exquisite lady in the room has been called to touch 
the musical box ; as she takes her seat she nicely ad- 
justs the stool to its proper height, and, being seated, 
she manipulates the keys, pouring forth the sweetest 
strains of music, the boys step out and get their part- 
ners and walk around a little, at first very gracefully, 
you know, as they hear the music. By and by they 
get a little intoxicated with the music and the boys 
get to waltzing around a little. It is a splendid en- 
tertainment, yes, indeed. Soon beautiful ladies come 
with silver trays and cut glass filled with sparkling 
wine, with grace and glory, and with, hands so plump 
and beautiful that they outrival the gems that flash 
upon them, and. almost dazzle your eyes. I tell you 
it is no inferior class of society, but ,the queenly 
women who have been cultured to perfection and 
understand what the etiquette is that goes to make 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 199 

up a place of this kind. These ladies approach and 
say, ' Please take a glass of wine, if you please, 
James, with me.' James says, ' Well, I don't wish 
to.' 'Why, James, take a glass with me, if you 
please; take a glass now with Susan; just take a 
glass to-night.' It requires a great deal of courage 
for a young man to straighten back in his chair and - 
say : i No, miss, I don't indulge in the use of wine 
on any occasion.' It requires a great deal of cour- 
age to say that, although it may seem a small thing 
to do. But a man who can do that, and do it nobly, 
has won a greater victory than Grant ever won, even 
when he received the sword of Lee on the battle- 
ground of Appomattox. You say it is a small thing. 
It may seem a small thing to many of you, but there 
is, so to speak, a dignity of manhood and a courtesy 
that belongs to the young lady, and the courtesies 
that are to be extended to her from a young gentle- 
man who claims to be gallant, and who holds his head 
erect, and who is expected to be looked upon with 
some degree of inferiority if he does not accept a 
little wine on such an occasion as this. They will 
say to him : ' Why, I am perfectly astonished at 
you.' Oh, yes ; but let me say to you, young man, 
be true to yourself; yield obedience to the dictates 
of an honest heart. Kemember the baptism of your 
mother ; remember the counsels of your father ; re- 
member the sacred duties that are devolving upon 
you ; remember the sacred trusts that rest upon you. 
You are, perhaps, placed in some position, perhaps 
the most honorable in the city ; perhaps you are at 



200 THE TRUE PATH. 

the counting room of a banker, or counter of some 
merchant prince, and have control of his business 
and the direction of it; and it will be one of the 
grandest events in your life to have the fact come to 
that man that William refused to take wine at that 
party. [Great applause.] It will increase his confi- 
dence in you a hundred per cent., and though he may 
never mention it to you, you will see a change in the 
conduct of that man towards you, and at no distant 
day will he reward you in a way that will do you 
good and give you a stimulus that will aid you all 
your life. 

" I am one of those that believe that if the wine cel- 
lars were cleared out we wouldn't have much trouble 
with saloons. I believe that wine cellars have a 
great deal to do in making saloon drinking. I 
believe if the wealthy men and women in this coun- 
try would come down to assist those whom they 
( consider the worthless and unfortunate, who are the 
victims of intemperance, the work would be done in 
less than three months. There are women in this 
city who have not yet signed the pledge, and there 
are men in this city who have not signed the pledge 
who should have done so ; and if they would do so , 
I tell you it would shake this city to its very founda- 
tions, and a greater and grander victory would come 
to you than we have ever had yet, if we would only 
do what we might in this blessed work. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 201 



THE MODERATE DRINKER. — ATTACHMENT AMONG 
DRINKERS. 

There are some men who will say they can drink 
or let it alone when they have a mind to. I grant 
you that some men can do so, but we know that 
liquor has a wonderful fascination for some men ; we 
know that it has a wonderful power over them ; 
young men occasionally drinking together become 
married to each other, and there is a friendship exist- 
ing among them that does not exist among other 
persons. If Tom had been in the habit of getting off 
a little, here is Bill that will step around and hunt 
him up, and when he finds him — ten chances to one 
if he finds him— he will prevail on his taking some- 
thing. He will say, ' Come, Tom, let us take some- 
thing.' Tom says, 'I ain't a going to do it.' 
1 Don't bother ; come along, Tom ; come up and take 
something ; just take one drink/ and thus would 
their kind persuasion overcome their comrades. I 
think if Christian men were just as much in earnest 
as drinking men are we would have a wonderful re- 
vival. [Applause.] But, for instance, if you go into 
a church, and no person speaks to you, you will not 
attend much ; when you go in, there is a man dressed 
in black who points you to a seat, but never says ' I 
am glad to see you,' or makes any inquiry where 
you are from. When you go out the people crowd 
the aisles and do not speak to you ; do you suppose 
that drinking men are going back to hear you 



202 THE TEUE PATH. 

preach ? Kot much ; they don't want any such 
entertainment. It would be better for you to pass 
by the men you are in the habit of speaking to every 
day. and speak to the strangers. If you meet a» 
young man, ask him where he boards, and what his ' 
circumstances are ; if he has come to your city, who 
his employer is, and where he is boarding ; perhaps 
you will find he is in an attic chamber, and in needy 
circumstances ; he is some mother's son ; invite him 
down to take dinner with you; be a father to him; 
perhaps some one may be a father to your boy. 
Don't be so self-righteous that you will allow people 
to go out of the church without making their aquaint- 
ance. Be sociable and friendly, and they will come 
back to you,, but not till then. Think of these men 
that chase each other around the street, trying to find 
each other. I remember the time when I was in the 
habit of taking a little something for my stomach's 
sake ; I was one of the boys who stuck at it ; when I 
got hold of a customer I didn't let him go away with- 
out taking something to drink, and having some fun. 
'Just take one drink,' and that one drink, in all 
probability, leads to a spree. 

Mr. Murphy here illustrated the strong attachment 
shown by companions in drink for one another by 
relating the story that is told of two Irishmen, upon 
their recent arrival here from their mother country, 
describing the tenacity with which the musquitoes 
hung to them in a swamp. The speaker rendered 
the story with great effect by telling it in the genuine 
brogue of his countrymen, and as he concluded his 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 203 

picture of the scene, with the remark of one of those 
travelling companions, who, upon peeping from under 
his blanket, beheld a fire- fly, thinking it one of their 
tormentors still in search of them, ' Fergus we might 
as well be afther getting out now, for here is one of 
the crathurs, with his lantern, looking for us.' The 
laughter and applause were tremendous. 

" So," continued the speaker, " I have been in 
about the same position of my countrymen; I have 
had to run away from my friends with whom I have 
been associated ; I have had to run away to escape 
intoxication ; there is no getting away from them ; 
they will hold on to you asking you to take some- 
thing, 'just one drink,' but that 'just one drink' would 
perhaps end in a spree of three days, and the wind-up 
be a sorrowful one, I assure you." 

a mother's love. 

" I believe to-night that it is kindness we are to use 
in this blessed work to save men — the kindness of 
Christian charity and mercy. ' Though I speak with 
the tongues of men and of angels, and have not char- 
ity, I am become as sounding brass or tinkling cym- 
bal.' ' And though I have the gift of prophecy, and 
understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and 
though I have all faith, so that I could remove moun- 
tains, and have not charity, I am nothing.' It is 
charity that tells ; it is the love of a man's heart that 
will win. Why is it that the unfortunate boy turns 
to his mother? Never in the world, so long as he 



204 THE TRUE PATH. 

lives and walks God's green earth, can he forget his 
mother. The very mention of her name awakens 
every tender emotion in him, as he hears her kindly 
saying, ' Stand up, Tommy, come home.' There is 
one that loves him and cares for him, and though 
God may have taken her to Himself, you will often 
find the poor inebriate standing at the little green 
mound, weeping at his own misfortune, and saying 
that ' in there lies the remains of a mother that al- 
ways loved me, that always had a tender spot in her 
heart for me ; who, when father turned me away, took 
me in the back door, up into the garret, and clothed 
and fed me, and helped me.' That is what tells, and 
that is what is to be the passport for that boy into 
the gates of heaven ; it is that which will break the 
power of sin in his soul, and bring him home to that 
God who gave him and made him for Himself. 

MARSHAL SWARTZWALDER. 

"Allow me to use an illustration that I may enforce 
this truth, and may God help me. I will speak of a 
man you have had in your midst, speaking for you — 
Marshal Swartzwalder. He was a victim of this habit 
for a number of years. He was a companion of my 
dear brother here on the platform, and who drank 
with my Brother Hall from week to week, and month 
to month, and year to year. He was a perfect gen- 
tleman when he was sober ; a kingly man, and has 
justly been called the patriarch of the Pittsburg Bar, 
and the Demosthenes of the profession. Perhaps no 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 205 

man wbo has been upon the platform, in the cause 
of human reform, has been equal to him. When I 
first came to the city of Pittsburg, I was told about 
Marshal Swartzwalder, that he had been a drunkard 
a great many years — for thirty years at least — and 
they said there was no hope for him. I said I would 
like to see him. ' Well,' said they, ' you can see 
him,' but said he had been on a tremendous spree. 
I took particular pains to find out how I might be 
received ; they said I would be received kindly. I 
got the number of his office — for at this time he stayed 
in his office, and ate his meals there, and had a nice 
back room handsomely furnished where he slept — I 
came to his office and rapped at his door ; there was 
a young boy, a son of his, a beardless boy, about six- 
teen years of age, I should judge, that always staid 
with his father, and never left him ; he called him 
Dick. Dick came to the door — I wish you could 
have seen the poor boy ; he looked so depressed and 
sad. Said I, 'Is Mr. Swartzwalder in?' He re- 
plied, 'Yes; do you wish to see him?' I told him 
1 Yes, sir,' and sent in my card. He had asked what 
my name was, and I told him, and he stepped in and 
told him that Mr. Murphy was in the office and would 
like to see him. Said he, 'Send him in; I would 
like to see him.' So I went into his room, and he 
arose from his large chair which he had for his own 
comfort. He was partially stripped, having his pan- 
taloons tied around him with his suspenders. Being 
a chunky and quite heavy man, as he came towards 
me I was a little scared at the man, to tell the truth, 
10 



206 THE TRUE PATH. 

as he walked up to me, looking so earnest, with a 
keen expression that seemed to look me through and 
through. As he approached he extended his hand and 
said, ' You are the man that has been talking temper- 
ance here?' 'Yes,' said I. 4 Well,' said he, 'we 
never had much good from you temperance people ; 
you come here and sing your songs, and present 
your bills and go away. That is the way they do ; 
and I suppose you are like all the rest of them.' 
I said, 'I don't know how that is.' He said, 
'Mr. Murphy, I want to talk to you.' 'I have 
been a victim of intemperance for more than thirty 
years,' said he. ' I have no power to control my- 
self.' He asked me to be seated in a chair, and I 
sat down by his side. Said he, looking strangely in 
my face, ' Is there any hope for me ?' Said I, 
' There is hope for you.' ' There is,' he exclaimed. 
' Yes.' He asked, ' How so ?' Said I, ' with 
God's help you can be saved.' With a shake of his 
head he said, ' Why, for more than twenty years I 
have been seeking for the truth, and have read the 
Bible through and through.' And he told me about 
the writings of several men he had read, seeking for 
the truth. And,' said he, ' Mr. Murphy, there is 
no help for me.' I commenced talking to him in 
my humble way, the best I could. He turned around 
to Colonel Hetherington, and said : ' Go and tell 
Dick to come in.' The dear boy, when he came in, 
stepped up to his father's left side, and the father put 
his arms around the boy. The poor boy was so 
much overcome that he sat down and put his arms 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 207 

aroung his father's neck. The child could not control 
his feelings, and commenced to weep. The father 
said, 'Dear Dick, you never left me.' Turning to 
me, he said : i Mr. Murphy, here is a boy that stays 
with his father ; here is a boy that has walked the 
streets night after night for his father, and stays with 
him ; I wish I could tell you how good he has been, 
how much I love him.' Before, we got through 
talking to each other, and reasoning with each other, 
Mr. Swartzwalder said : ' Mr. Murphy, I feel a very 
strange impression on my heart; I feel as though 
God had touched me, so to speak.' I said to him, 
with all the power of encouragement that God had 
possessed me with, ' Mr. Swartzwalder, by the grace 
of God you shall conquer this evil ; I know it in my 
heart.' I left him ; I knew the work was done ; 
I knew it was a question of time when that man 
should come out redeemed. Brother David Hall, 
who is on the platform, carried him provision and 
nursed him, and there is not a better hearted man 
walks on this green earth of God's than this same 
Brother Hall. [Applause.] He stayed with him 
and helped him for several days ; after six days the 
Christian people began to pray for him ; the people 
would come to me and ask, 4 Mr. Murphy, do you 
believe Swartzwalder will be saved ?' 'Do I believe 
it? Why,' said I, ' God saves to the uttermost, and 
he knows no hard cases.' I gave them all the en- 
couragement I could. The Christian men and women 
prayed for that man, for the people of Pittsburg 
loved him ; they are proud of him as a grand pleader 



208 THE TRUE PATH. 

of the bar ; the Grand Counsellor of the State, with 
whom the Judges of the Supreme Bench consult. 
In about six days — we had heard from him from day 
today — and after some six days this man, majestic 
in his appearance, with his white flowing locks, well 
dressed, and with a nice silk hat shining like a 
piece of polished gold, and his cane in his hand, 
came to the meeting ; there was a grandeur and 
majesty about the man ; he seemed to have come to 
himself again, with all the grandeur and kingly no- 
bility he formerly possessed. As be came in he 
stood and looked over the multitude of people in the 
room. When the man came in and stood there, a 
whisper passed throughout the congregation, and I 
noticed that men that hadn't been seen to drop tears 
since the meeting commenced were now moved. I 
could see their lips begin to tremble, and after a* 
while I could see them get out their handkerchiefs. 
I wondered what was the cause of all this, but it 
was the hold the man had upon the people. By-and- 
bye he walked up the aisle, pressing his way among 
the multitude of people, and as they parted to let 
him in, and he passed along, you could hear the peo- 
ple say, 'God bless the man.' And when he came 
toward the table where the pledges were, the interest 
was intense. In the back part of the room they 
commenced standing up, to see if he would sign the 
pledge, and in a little while, as he stood there silently 
meditating, he turned, and seizing a pen, wrote his 
name upon the pledge of total abstinence. Then, 
turning to the congregation again, he said — what he 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 209 

had never before said in all his life — ' I want you to 
pray for me. This is for my life; this is the last 
effort ; if I fail now I shall never try it again.' That 
man went to his office, and asked God to help him. 

" I met him when I came to Pittsburg, and had the 
pleasure of putting my arms around him. Said I, 
' How are *you getting along, Brother Swartz- 
walder?' and he said, ' Brother Murphy, every 
morning I pray ; every day at noon I pray ; and 
every night I pray ; and every day when I go past a 
saloon I begin to pray for God's power to keep me 
and sustain me.' 

" This man has been kept by the grace of God, and 
has been the means in the hands of God of securing 
— I don't know but twenty thousand signers to the 
pledge of total abstinence, and is standing up to-day 
in all the dignity and freedom of this new-born life, 
saved from the power and dominion of rum, It 
pays % to be kind, it pays to be merciful and to 
work in this blessed cause. [Great applause.] 

REFORMATION OF A SALOONIST. — DAVID HALL. 

"Now, my dear friends, I see that the time is ad- 
vancing when I must close my discourse. If I had 
time I would like to bring before you another illus- 
tration of this truth. Just a word about my brothers 
David Hall and George, and while they are on the 
platform they will excuse me for speaking about 
them. When I first came to Pittsburg and spoke in 
the Opera House, brother David was there, George 



210 THE TRUE PATH. 

was not present. The next day, passing down the 
street, I met brother David near the Seventh Avenue 
Hotel, on the sidewalk. He stepped up, and taking 
me by the hand said : ' How are you ?' And I 
said : ' Very well ; how are you ?' and he said : 
'You don't know me?' I said 'No.' Said he: 'I 
heard you talk last night ; 1 want you t<J understand, 
that.' Said I, 'Did you?' and he replied, 'I was 
right there.' 'Were you?' 'Yes,' said he; 'and 
you told my story exactly.' Well, I was wonder- 
fully pleased with the expression of his face. 'And 
now,' remarked he, ' there was something left out of 
the story ; you didn't tell all.' Said I to David: 'I 
want you to tell me what it is.' Said he, ' I want 
you to tell me whether your wife is living?' I told 
him she was not living. Do you know that this man 
bowed his head on the street there and cried. ' I 
want .to say to you now,' said brother David, ' I will 
sign this pledge with you, and if you let me go down 
to the hotel with you I will sign it right there.' 
And he took another man with him, John Irving. 
He said he would go along and sign it too. We 
went to my room and he said: 'I have a saloon ; I 
want you to understand that.' Said I : ' Have you ?' 
' Yes,' replied he. I inquired : c What are you going 
to do with it?' 'I am going to shut it up,' he replied. 
' Will you,' said I. 4 If you. will shut it up, brother 
David, it will be a blessed thing.' I asked him 
where his place was, and said I would go down and 
see it. ' You have got to come down quick L 7 you 
get into it,' said he, 'for I am going to close it up, 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 211 

and I will never sell another drink of liquor.' When 
we came in the room he asked for the pledge and sat 
down and signed it — he and his companion, John 
Irving — as nohle a man as ever God made, but who 
had fallen through the power of this evil. When 
they signed it they stepped up to each other and 
took each other's hand, but didn't speak a word. 
They turned their heads away from each other for a 
little while, then let go, and David went to one side 
of the room and John to the other. I knew that 
God had touched their hearts, and I want to say to 
you that it is these men that have made this move- 
ment and not Frank Murphy. These are the men 
who have done the work, and called it the Murphy 
movement. It ought to be called the Hall move- 
ment. [Applause.] 

MR. MURPHY'S HOME. 

" I have been asked repeatedly, 'Mr. Murphy, where 
is your home ?' I wouldn't tell you about that, but I 
have been talking among you and feel perfectly at 
home with you, and feel that I am not a stranger in 
your' midst. Everywhere I have received the same 
kindness. Men have taken me to their homes and 
given me of their means. I don't know but what 
you will spoil me. But I will tell you, so you will 
understand just my circumstances. After my re- 
demption and return home to my family, my wife, 
who had stood by my side all through the dark days 
of my life and had never faltered, took sick with 



212 THE TRUE PATH. 

typhoid fever — the truth of the matter was her heart 
had been almost broken, and she had never fully re- 
covered. It was the terrible experience she had 
passed through, dear soul ; the suffering, the intense 
suffering. 

HEART-BROKEN WIVES. 

"And I say to you to-night that some of the best 
wives and some of the best mothers in this country 
are suffering quietly. They won't say a word about 
their husbands, not a word. 

" ' He is my husband ; I will carry the wound in 
my heart ; I will carry it silently till God shall say, 
" it is enough," and then I will lie down and die.' 
Oh, men^ think to-night of such love as this. May 
God help you to be true and loyal to your wives. 
[At this point sobs were heard in different parts of 
the house.] 

" Mr. Murphy related in detail the circumstances 
attending the sickness and death of his wife in 1870, 
and the subsequent history of his family. He charac- 
terized his wife as a true Christian woman, and re- 
ferred in a feeling manner to her dying request not 
to separate her children, but stated that such was his 
extreme poverty that he was compelled for a time to 
allow their separation, but had subsequently been 
blessed with means that enabled him to reunite them, 
and that he was now educating them. Said he : ' I 
am trying to make Christian gentlemen of my sons 
and Christian women of my daughters, and I have 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE- 213 

the pleasure of telling you that my two older sons 
are soundly converted to God, and are Christian 
boys.' [Applause.] 

"In closing this personal narrative, he referred to 
his married life in the following language: We were 
married when we were children, and started out in 
life together. She was only seventeen years of age, 
and I was eighteen, and from the time we started out 
in life until God separated us, an unkind word had 
not been used between us in the way of wrath or 
malice. Our life has been one of peace and content- 
ment, blessed be Grod. 

• f DELUSIVE POWER OF STRONG DRINK. 

"Let me say to you tonight, young man, you who 
are free from this terrible evil ; let me say to you, 
husband, to-night, if you are expecting to drink or 
let it alone whenever you have a mind to, remember 
there is:a wonderful hidden power in this dreadful 
habit; remember that it is a silken thread you can 
hardly see, but that it will wind itself around and 
around you until it will have you enchained beneath 
its power, and when you undertake to break away, 
will cost you all the strength you have got, and, 
perhaps, like many of us, you will not be able of 
yourself to break the chain that has held you bound 
down to a habit that will rob you of all your property; 
rob you of your reason ; destroy your sense of honor, 
and steal from you your good name. ' He that steals 
my purse steals trash, but he sir, who steals from me 
10* 



214 THE TRUE PATH. 

my good name, takes that which doth not enrich him, 
but makes me poor indeed.' 

" Thou friend of rum, 0, thou invisible spirit ! if 
we had no name to know thee by, why not call thee 
devil ! 

"From this platform, in this hall of yours, where 
the eloquent tongues of your statesmen have inspired 
you with confidence in the right, with confidence in 
justice, with confidence in truth, that our forefathers 
placed upon the altar of our country, though it was 
dimmed by the infernal shadow of bloody slavery; 
though, so to speak, its like had almost gone out 
beneath the iron hand of oppression, from this plat- 
form have come the voices, have come the manhood, 
have come the virtues that have touched your manly 
hearts, and have made each man and each woman 
stand erect again— stand erect clothed with a power 
beyond the reach of slavery, clothed you with a 
strength equal to Hercules, making you almost omni- 
potent, and you have marched from this capital with 
a heart filled with the love of truth, with a patriotism 
that encompassed our beloved country, done your 
duty and have won a victory for all time for the 
cause of justice, and for republicanism. But to-night 
there is a grander cause pleading for you, and a 
grander silence that speaks to you. I hear to-night 
the wail of the oppressed mothers of this country ; I 
hear five hundred thousand victims that are chained 
to-night in the living tombs of this country, who have 
been poisoned by the malaria of the upas tree of 
death. This upas tree has got its roots in the sacred 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 215 

soil of this country. Is it possible that God's sun- 
light has ever touched it ? that God's rain has ever 
watered it? E~ever, never, never. It has been 
watered by the blood of mothers' hearts. Yes, on its 
branches to-night hang the death-warrants of more 
than twenty millions of the bravest men and the 
queenliest women that God ever gave to the world. 
Let us cut it down, Jimmy ; let us cut it down, 
David; let us cut it down, men. With pledges in 
your hands, come to the rescue. Let us strike a 
blow into its infernal trunk. Let us hate it, men, let 
us hate it. See it stagger. Clear the way, and give 
it a place to fall. Let us trim its branches ; let us 
log its dead, infernal trunk ; let us set fire to it. Let 
us have a bonfire in Columbus, and burn it to ashes, 
and bury the ashes so deep down in the bowels of 
the earth, that by the blessing of God, by the bles- 
sing of heaven, it shall never, never, never, FEVER 
have a resurrection. May God bless you." 

A hearty encore by the audience brought to the 
front again the speaker,, who had taken his seat, 
when he said : 

" I sincerely thank you. May God bless you. Pray 
for me that God may keep me a servant ; that I may 
remember the text that the servant is not greater than 
his Lord ; that I may be willing to go down and 
wash the feet of my dear brethren, and find shirts for 
the shirtless ones, coats for the coatless ones ; that I 
may love the prodigal son, and that every mother's 
son shall be made a son of the blessed benevolence of 
this gospel of total abstinence ; and may we at last 



216 THE TRUE PATH. 

reach the golden shore of God's eternal home, where 
there is no more night, where there are no more 
tears, where the fields are always green and where 
the flowers never fade. Good night." [Applause.] 



CHAPTER XXI. 

SELECTIONS FROM MR. MURPHY'S SPEECHES. 

Closing sentences of Francis Murphy's speech, de- 
livered in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, at 
the inauguration of his campaign in that city : 

"I call upon you in the name of everything holy, 
and manly, and Godlike, to remain true, cost what it 
will. Let no fascination allure you to sip a drop of 
the accursed drink. There is no joy to come to you 
from it. Don't tamper with it, I beseech you. The 
sure ground for you and me to stand on to-night is 
this blessed rock of total abstinence. 

" In the name of God I beseech you to think of 
your real worth. Think of your manhood. Think 
of your honor, and enter into the world's broad field of 
battle. In the work of life do not be like dumb driven 
cattle. Let us be up and doing, with a heart full to 
fight — still achieving, still pursuing, and laboring 
and waiting in this grand city, where the infant voice 
of liberty was first heard, and where its youth was 
nurtured and sustained. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 2i7 

" Your fathers had the manly courage to defy the 
power of England when the power of that nation en- 
compassed the world. There were men here who 
when they felt the yoke of oppression, were equal to 
the occasion. To-night the same blood is coursing 
in your veins. The same spirit lives in this grand 
city. Yes, the whole world, I might say, recently 
came to worship at its shrine. In this city let me 
call upon you to join in with us until every jail shall 
be emptied and every saloon closed. Let us work 
and press on until every State's prison shall be emp- 
tied of its inmates, and the sale of the accursed liquor 
be stopped for ever. 

"0, how I hate you! you man-destroying cowardly 
fiend-incarnate, I hate you ! I hate you ! I have 
struggled with you ! I have fought with you ! Yes, 
you chained these hands and these limbs ! I have 
fallen again and again ; but by the blessing of God 
have conquered. 

" In his name, in whose service is perfect freedom, 
let us press on, till the last chain shall be broken ; 
till the last captive shall be permitted to go free ; and 
all shall stand — every captive son and daughter — free, 
free, eternally free. May God bless you." 



Short speech of Francis Murphy, at the Temper- 
ance Tabernacle, Philadelphia: 

" I hope and trust that each one of us may feel the 
responsibility that is resting upon us; that each one 



218 THE TKUE PATH. 

of us may feel like doing our whole duty, and doing 
all things to yield a gladsome obedience to that which 
is right, just, and manly. The prophet Isaiah used 
this beautiful language : ' Is not this the task that I 
have chosen ? to loose the bands of wickedness, to 
undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go 
free — -and that ye break every yoke ? Is it not to 
deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the 
poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou 
seest the naked that thou cover him ; and that thou 
hide not thyself from thine own flesh?' This is 
practical religion, and it is for you, and me, to night 
in the presence of this vast multitude of people to 
ask 'What wilt thou have me to do?' and may 
God help each one of us to feel, to-day, that we have 
a work to do ; that we have a duty to perform, and 
that we can do something for each other. We are 
dependent upon each other for the success of all that 
is good, and noble, and true. Your coming to the 
front and speaking for this blessed cause of total ab- 
stinence, will stimulate some men by your side to 
come forward and join with us. There is no diffi- 
culty in having our sons and our homes free from 
the evil of intoxicating liquor. We must only make 
an honest effort, it cannot be done without it. We 
must do one thing — we must stop using it ourselves. 
And, then, it is our duty to ' use all honorable 
means,' as the pledge reads, to encourage others to 
abstain. This is the only temperance principle that 
is really genuine and true. There is not much use 
for a man to talk temperance with an occasional glass 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 219 

of brandy in his hand. The day has gone past for 
that. Love and example will win a man, or, rather, 
will lead him, from the haunts of vice to the side of 
temperance. They will make him feel that he can 
keep his pledge and earn money to support himself 
to stand as a man among men. It is the business of 
every man to take the hand of duty and let it lead 
him through light and darkness. Duty, duty, do 
your whole duty, men ! Take the golden handle of 
duty to-night and in spite of every opposition ; in 
spite of everything that seems impossible ; in the 
name of the divine power that is within you, triumph 
over every difficulty and scale the mountain before 
you, and though it cost you your life, go to the top. 
By the blessing of God, it will be worth more than 
all it costs you. You can do it if you only will." 



Important extracts from speeches delivered by 
Francis Murphy, at various times, and different 
places, during his recent energetic labors in behalf 
of total-abstinence : 

"WHO MUST DO THE WORK." 

" This work must be done by the men who have 
drank intoxicating liquors. I come not to the tem- 
perance men, but to the drinking men, and I appeal 
to your manhood and to everything that is sacred to 
break the chains that bind you, and to make one 



220 THE TRUE PATH. 

graDd effort to break away from evil companions, 
and say, 'I have drank my last glass, boys.' It is 
by example that this work must be done. Drinking 
men must do it — they and the liquor sellers ; and I 
believe that God will give us the liquor sellers." 



"GETTING TO THE ROOT." 

" My dear friends," said Mr. Murphy, " I think we 
are getting to the root of this matter. I noticed to- 
day that thirty or forty saloons are to be sold. This 
is one side ; but there is another. You must take 
these men who are leaving their business by the 
hand, encourage them and keep them from dissipa- 
tion. You must remember that the work is not done 
until we can do this." 



"must work out our own salvation." 

" We are not going to wait for the Legislature to 
make us sober. You have the power yourselves to 
be sober men, to render these shops powerless if you 
will enforce prohibition as regards your own mouth. 
If you stop drinking they will stop selling. That is 
the logical inference. Don't you for a moment flatter 
yourselves that you can have any sort of a real, 
honest total abstinence sentiment till the people be - 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 221 

come sober." Mr. Murphy then went on to explain 
what benefits a man would reap from leaving liquor 
alone, and continued : " There are many of us who 
can't be honest till we have an investigating commit- 
tee after us ; who won't work till we get to the poor- 
house. Shame on you men who will not take the 
hand of honest labor and work out your own salva- 
tion. If I can't be a book-keeper, I can be a corpora- 
tion fiddler, and saw wood." 



" BECAUSE OF CHARITY. 

" God is wonderfully blessing our efforts, and I do 
wish in my heart I might be able to say something 
to convince you as never before of the great neces- 
sity of charity. We have been blessed signally in 
this movement, and if it differs from any other move- 
ment, it is because God has given us charity." 



" GRACE GETS RUM OUT. . 

" In Elmira, out of a population of twenty thou- 
sand, ten thousand had signed the pledge, all the 
places in that vicinity were holding prayer meetings, 
and the ministers who had been advocating prohibi- 
tion were finding out their mistake. There is noth- 
ing like the grace of God to save the liquor-seller. 



222 THE TRUE PATH. 

You can wash him as much as you like in prohibition 
and local option, but it's the grace of God that gets 
the rum out of him." 



" NO POLITICS. 

"We have a temperance movement now, that is 
not a political movement. Some people say it will be 
a political movement after awhile. Never ! Never ! 
I'll oppose that movement as long as I live. We 
have as many temperance men among the Demo- 
crats as among the Republicans. There is a great 
deal in example, and if we would have others better 
we must live better lives ourselves. Redemption is 
to be achieved through faith in Grod." 



"ATTENTION TO CHILDREN. 

Mr. Murphy thanked God that the army of free 
men and free women was increasing. The best 
tidings came from everywhere of men who had con- 
cluded to keep their money and take it home. There 
were lots of happy wives and children, for when 
father's stopped drinking they turned their attention 
to the children. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 223 



"COMMON SENSE PRINCIPLES. 

He explained that there was a great deal in the 
manner in which men were approached whether they 
signed the pledge or not. While he was speaking a 
gentleman came up the aisle arm in arm with another 
person. " That's the way to bring them," said Mr, 
Murphy ; " good boy, Tom." " My name's Daniel," 
interrupted the man, " and I'm goin' to shut down." 
"That's right; arnen ! I tell you we have got to 
come down to common sense principles. It is the 
man who dresses the wounds of the afflicted and 
feeds the hungry who is successful." 



"NOT A FAILURE. 

"May Grod give us strength and aid. This blessed 
moral reform is not a failure. The blood-stained ban- 
ner of Immanuel shall not be taken down from the 
mast of this Gospel temperance ship. Wave after 
wave shall beat against its prow ; wave after wave 
shall meet her on her onward course. But what care 
we for that ? He who controls the ocean itself has 
His hand at the helm. Ob, thou blessed Immanuel ! 
Sail on, oh Gospel temperance ship. Yonder is the 
golden shore, and there the ship shall come safe into 
port from every wind and every storm." 



224 THE TRUE PATH. 



" HOW TO SALT DOWN AN OLD BACKSLIDER. 

" To- day we have been especially reminded of the 
sleeping dead, but it seems to me to-day that in the 
rush of life it is our duty to take care of the living. . 
I thank God that the angel of mercy is kindly look- 
ing down on us to-day, and, great as the scourge of 
slavery was, it was not so great as the slavery of in- 
toxicating liquors. There is hardly a household but 
has lost a boy from drunkenness, but no one thinks 
of decorating their graves ! If you want to save a 
piece of meat you salt it down, and there's no use in 
trying to save it without salting it ; and I tell you 
nothing but the grace of God will salt down an old 
backslider." 



"PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY." 

"■■I look upon every fifty signatures, as going a 
long way toward shutting up a liquor shop. It had 
been said that God helps those who help themselves. 
If you come to a river don't stop for it to turn out of 
your way, for if you do you will never cross it.' It 
would be better to plunge in and take the conse- 
quences. Everything is possible with God. Is it not 
better to make an honest effort by signing the pledge ? 
Is it not also infinitely better to place the hand of 
kindness upon the man who is drinking and lead him 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 225 

to the place of safety, rather than to wait until he has 
become ruined ? Instead of having outside societies, 
take the men in the Church, and let them feel that 
Christianity means something. Love and charity 
must be practical, and there would be more accom- 
plished than by any other way. Not to go after even 
the tavern-keeper would be like expecting to catch 
fish without going near the river. The saloon-keeper 
is carrying on a business that has been legalized, and 
he has a family to be saved as much as any one else. 
Practical Christianity must be practiced, and if these 
men are met with kindly they, too, can be as easily 
turned from their evil way. Away with the bowl, 
men, and make an earnest effort for the right by 
standing up in your dignity, and being freed forever 
from the power of rum." 



U WE HAVE STOPPED DRINKING." 

" The spirit of this movement is the spirit of lib- 
erty. A man has a right to drink if he sees fit ; no 
good will come of trying to compel him to stop drink- 
ing. Men who indulge in drink are apt to be some- 
what opinionated. They take the position that they 
are able to drink or stop drinking if they are a mind 
to. They are not likely to be forced to stop ; but get 
to them and reason with him in the name of his fam- 
ily, in the name of his wife, of his children, and for 
the sake of himself, and you will reach him. I say 



226 THE TRUE PATH. 

to the man who is engaged in liquor selling, sell away, 
sell all you can, but we have stopped drinking. We 
say when drinking is stopped there will be no more 
selling." 



11 GET THE IEISH ALL EIGHT. 7 

• ' Let us get the Irish all right [laughter] ; let us get 
the Yankees all right; let us get the Englishman to 
give up his ' hale.' We need not worry about the 
German, who prefers his lager and his band of music 
on the Sabbath day, for when G-od sends evangelists 
to the Germans they will be reached, they will hear." 



MR. MURPHY AFTER " THE BOYS." 

The way in which Mr. Murphy, at times, calls up 
his recruits at great meetings, will be interesting to 
many. On the 30th of May, 1877, at the Tabernacle, 
a reporter noted down as follows : 

" Remember, every door you knock at will open 
to you," began Brother Murphy last night. " If you 
knock at a saloon door, it will open to you; and if 
you knock at the door of total abstinence, it will be 
opened to you. Now we are going to have some 
speeches from the boys. Some of them think they 
can hide away from me, but they are mistaken. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 227 

" I want that man there (pointing) with black hair," 
said he, and the man with black hair attempted to 
excuse himself, when Brother Murphy pleasantly in- 
terrupted him with " Now, you go on ; I don't want 
any fooling about it ; we want to hear what you have 
to say for the good cause;" and the ''bulldozed" 
speaker proceeded, amid the applause of the audience, 
to obey instructions. 



" STRONG FAITH. 

The character of Mr. Murphy cannot be more 
strongly shown forth than in his words used at a 
meeting on May 2d, 1877 : 

" But I think there has been a spirit of bravado, 
of self-righteousness, of fictitious exultation on our 
part, because we had a little success. If we are to 
succeed fully, my friends, the only way is to assume 
the spirit of the servant. The servant should not be 
greater than his lord, and we should not be above 
doing what Christ did. I have faith in victory, the 
grandest the world has ever seen." 

Here was evidence indeed ; a lesson of power to 
those who were co-laborers with him, which cannot 
fail, of itself, in yielding additional strength to the 
cause. Such a man is, in truth, a philantropist, a 
missionary, a Christian. 



228 THE TRUE PATH. 



A SERMON FROM THE HEART. 

On an important occasion, when Mr. Murphy had 
finished speaking, there was not a dry eye in the as- 
semblage. A natural, although untrained, orator he 
put himself at once en rapport with his audience by 
placing himself on their level. While he was speak- 
ing, o*e of the babies, lying in the lap of its mother, 
who was sitting directly in front of Mr. Murphy, be- 
gan to talk back, and continued until its interruptions 
became disconcerting to the speaker, annoying to the 
audience, and mortifying to the mother. But Mr. 
Murphy suddenly removed the difficulty by saying 
in the kindest tone of voice: " Your baby is agitated 
by being directly in front of me, sister. If you take 
a seat on the side it will not annoy you so." And, 
as the mother thanked him and went over to where 
he had pointed, she was quickly accommodated by 
Mr. Murphy's request to " make room for the lady." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

" TO GOD BE ALL PRAISE." 

The following remarks were made by Capt. Cyrus 
Sturdivant, at a great Murphy gathering in the Phila- 
delphia Tabernacle, May 28th, 1877 : 

" Little did I think, when I took by the hand our 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE . 229 

dear Brother Murphy, seven years ago, and invited 
him to accept this religion of Christ, that that invita- 
tion of mine would, under God, lead to such glorious 
results. But I wish to take none of the glory ; to 
God be all praise. Now, my idea is that we had bet- 
ter go to work. That is the only safety. Work for 
Christ, and it will not be in vain. We must get out 
of the ruts and get on to the tracks, and may God 
help us, that we may be diligent in the service. It 
wouldn't be very hard for us together to dig up a 
bushel of Murphies, and if they are not all Francis 
Murphys God will wash and purify them, and send 
them out for good." 



Speech of Capt. W. B. Claney, one of the most 
prominent of Mr. Murphy's reformed men, delivered 
recently in Springfield, Ohio : 

" HOW A MAN WAS BROUGHT IN." 

"As I was standing in front of the hotel, just be- 
fore tea, there came up to me a gentleman, rather 
roughly dressed. I looked at him, and he said, 
'Excuse me, sir; but do you live here?' I said: 
'JSIo, sir, I don't.' 'Where are you from?' 'I 
am from Pittsburg.' ' Well, I am a curious kind 
of a man, and I ask some curious questions some- 
times — what is your business ?' Said I, 'I do a 
little talking sometimes to the boys.' ' Yes ; well, 
11 



230 THE TRUE PATH. 

you are not Murphy, are you?' I said: 'No, sir; 
I am not.' A gentleman who was standing there*, 
said : ' He is Murphy's son.' They always give me 
away, you know. [Laughter.] The man looked at 
me a little bit, and he said : ' I guess he is Murphy's 
son by adoption.' I said : ' Yes, I am.' ' Well, 
you are doing good work here.' ' Yes, sir ; we are 
trying to do the boys a little good.' ' Well, upon 
my soul it is the best thing that ever was started in 
Springfield.' ' Well,' said I, ' where is -your blue 
ribbon.' ' Oh ; that is further along. You don't 
take care of our creed, I guess.' I said, ' Yes, we 
do. I understand what you mean, sir. We don't 
knowany division of religious interest in this thing. 
We know no sectarianism.' Said I, 'A gentleman 
connected with the Catholic Abstinence Society, of 
Pittsburg, stands upon our platform and talks to the 
boys, and hundreds of Catholics have signed the 
pledge at our meetings and gone over and reported 
it to the Catholic Society.' I said, 'You come down 
to-night and sign that pledge.' He said, ' No ; I am 
not dressed well enough.' Said I, ' My friend, do 
you think clothes make any difference with a man ? 
If you do, I don't.' ' Well, I had rather not go 
down. Everybody knows me, and I would rather 
not go down.' Said I, ' That is the very reason 
you ought to do it, and let these manufacturers and 
business men see that you are trying to get up.' He 
said he came to the city of Springfield twenty -eight 
years ago, and there was hardly a married lady in the 
city of Springfield but what knew him, for he had 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 231 

been a gas-fitter, and "had put in a great many gas- 
pipes. 'Well,' said I, ' If you want to sign the 
pledge, you come right in and sign it now.' ' I will 
do that, for I want to quit it.' And I have his name, 
and it is Owen Briggen [applause] ; and he promised 
me he would be here to-morrow night. 

" YOU CAN BALANCE MY ACCOUNT." 

" There- are two or three things I would like to talk 
about to-night. I want to relate a circumstance, 
simply to show some of you business men the kind 
of stuff gome of these boys that drink are made of. 
There is a gentleman that keeps a store in the city of 
Springfield, and I do pray God to bless him, and 
have mercy upon him, and teach him to look to a 
higher life than that in which he is walking; and one 
of these boys came into his store this morning with 
a blue ribbon on his coat. ' Where did you get 
that?' ' Well, I was down in the hall, and signed 
the pledge, and a lady pinned it upon my coat.' 
' You can't work for me unless you take that blue 
ribbon off. It will hurt my business.' Following 
him came in the other employees. The first one had 
been kind of weakened down a little by what his 
employer had said to him, but it is astonishing how 
these boys, when they get together, can nerve one 
another up. Another boy came into the store, and 
the gentleman said : ' You have got a blue ribbon, 
too, have you?' 'Yes, sir.' 'Well, I have just 
told so-and-so he. would have to take his ribbon off or 



232 THE TRUE PATH. 

quit, and so I tell you you can't work for me unless 
you take that blue ribbon off.' ' Well, I have signed 
that pledge, and by God's help I will keep it, and 
you can just balance my account, and hand me what 
is coming to me, and I will go some place else.' 
[Applause.] 

" don't like to wear ribbon." 

" Said a man to me to-day : { I don't like to wear 
the ribbon, because I will be pointed out as a re- 
formed drunkard.' ' Well, God bless you.' I said, 
'you had better be pointed out that than have your 
name published in the Republic * fined one dollar and 
costs for drunkenness.' [Laughter.] I tell you, my 
dear brother, there is a day coming, when you have 
settled up all the business of this earth that you can 
do, the time will come when you have to hand in 
your accounts to the Almighty, and you will not 
care then whether the world points at you and calls 
you a reformed man, if you have only been redeemed 
through the blood of Christ. 

" A MAN DILIGENT IN BUSINESS I" 

[These words occurred in the selections from the 
Scriptures read by Captain Claney.] " Is a man dili- 
gent in business that is a coward to his principles ? 
Let me tell you an instance that came under my ob- 
servation. My father was for twenty- three years 
connected with the old Bank of Pittsburg. He was 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 233 

a strict man — what they termed in Pittsburg one of 
the conscientious Christians. Some of you boys talk 
about having your Sundays and all that sort of thing, 
but I tell you if you had lived with my father, you 
would have found out what it was to spend the Sab- 
bath properly. But he left the bank and purchased 
a farm near Salem, Ohio, a Quaker settlement. Prior 
to his going there he had lived for a few years in the 
country outside of the city, and he was so strict that 
he would not permit me to go there on the Sabbath 
to visit him. He thought the Sabbath was a day of 
rest, religious rest, that benefitted the mind as well as 
the body. Well, his principles were generally known, 
and it was said he would not live there very long, 
because you know they visit on Sunday. He said 
nothing in reply to this. I went to the country with 
him. The next Sabbath, just after we got home from 
church and had our dinner, and I had turned the 
horses out to pasture, I noticed the son of a leading 
Quaker who lived in the neighborhood, coming across 
the fields towards the house. I went and told my 
father ; I said : ' There comes so and so ; now don't 
you go lecturing him and telling him you don't allow 
anybody to visit here on Sunday ; be a little polite 
to him, and you will get along better.' He never 
answered me, but he went into the library, and I saw 
him feeling along the second shelf of his bookcase. 
I knew what that meant ; as the boy said, 4 1 have 
been there before.' He was hunting among some 
volumes of Irish sermons. In Ireland, you know, 
they preach sermons about three hours long, and the 



234 THE TRUE PATH. 

way lie read them they were about five. [Laughter.] 
Just as he got the volume out, this young man stepped 
in at the door. Said my father : 6 Be seated. We 
can not enjoy the privileges of the sanctuary this 
afternoon, and so we will try and improve our minds 
with something useful I have a very good sermon 
on the text so and so,' and away he went. [Laughter.] 
And when he got through it was about a quarter past 
five. Then Brother Lewis got up and went away. 
After he got out of the house I said to father: ' That 
ends that now. You have put your foot in it. If 
you expect to live among these folks here, you can 
not act that way.' In other words, boys, I wauted 
him to have that kind of religion that has the gum- 
band conscience with it. The next Sabbath, just as 
we got out of the carriage, Samuel French, a promi- 
nent Quaker, came riding up, and said : ' How dost 
thou do, brother Samuel? How art thou? I came 
over to see if thou wouldst rent me some of thy 
pasture. If thou wilt, I will pay thee well for it.' 
Said my father : ' Mr. French, the Bible tells me, 
'Six days shalt thou do thy labor, but on the seventh 
thou shalt rest.' I cannot talk business with you on 
the Sabbath. Good day, Mr. French.' I said to my 
father, ' Now your goose is cooked. That is a lead- 
ing Quaker.' But I stayed at home two years, and 
it is something very strange, boys, but in. all that 
time my father never drove a hoof off that farm, and 
never hauled a bushel of grain off it, and it was a 
large farm of two hundred and fifty acres. And I 
took notice that when it came to planting time and 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 235 

harvest, there were offers of help and ' neighboring,' 
as they call it. About a year after that I met Mr. 
French, and I spoke to him about that meeting with 
my father on the Sabbath, and asked him if he was 
offended at what my father had said. I told him I 
thought it was funny the Quakers were all so kind 
to father, when they got so cool a reception from him 
on those occasions I have mentioned. Said he : 
' William, let me tell thee. The good book tells us 
we must have a fixed principle, and live by it. 
Whenever thee seest a man without a fixed princi- 
ple, put him down as a rascal. When thy father 
came amongst us we thought we would try him ; we 
did try him, and found him unwavering, and that is 
the reason we like thy father.' Said he : ' Remem- 
ber it as long as thou livest.' And I have remem- 
bered it. And you show me a man in Springfield 
that is afraid to touch this pledge for fear of injuring 
his business, and I will show you a man that is a 
coward, a man that is not to be trusted. Why is it 
that these manufactories have grown up in your 
midst to be so extensive that they are known all over 
the land ? It is because these men have a fixed prin- 
ciple of business. They have stuck to it honestly 
and it pays. 

CAPITAL AND LABOR. 

" I have before me an audience that is grand to look 
upon. The influence and the power that is within 
these walls to night is great enough, if centered on 



236 THE TRUE PATH. 

one object, to shake Ohio from its centre to its cir- 
cumference. I presume that I have before me many 
laboring men, and I would say, without fear of con- 
tradiction, that a man who will hire himself out for 
a day's labor and then fill himself up with liquor 
until he is intoxicated, and works that day in an in- 
toxicated condition, taking his employer's money for 
it, is not honest. Capital and labor ! What is capi 
tal worth without labor? Not a snap. What is 
labor worth without capital? Not a snap. There 
has not been a strike in this country — and I know 
whereof I speak, for I have had in my employ as 
many men, perhaps, as any man in the house, of my 
age, has had — I say there has not been a strike, in 
our section of the country at least, where I could 
not trace the cause to liquor. And I say the time is 
at hand when the laboring men of this country, if 
they become sober men, and thereby conscientious, 
and thereby honest, can not only command, but de- 
mand, the respect of capital. [Applause.] 

wouldn't hire drinking men. 

" I superintended the erection of that new bridge 
at Pittsburg, and the contractor on that work, John 
Megraw, would not hire a man that drank, and he 
paid as high as $4 a day for masons when he could 
have hired them for $2.50 ; and as high as $2.50 a 
day for laborers when he could have hired them for 
$1.50 and $1.75. He would have none but sober, 
reliable men, and the consequence was that not a day 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 237 

was lost, when the men could work, in the whole 
time that he had that contract. And what did he 
get for his money ? He got value received for every 
dollar he paid those men. 

FUN IN GETTING DRUNK. 

" I have heard men say there was lots of fun in get- 
ting drunk. I asked a man if he thought that was 
so. He said yes. Said I : ' What about the big 
head in the morning ? ' Said he : ' I don't take that 
into consideration.' When you boys go out to trap 
birds what do you take to bait your traps ? Do you 
set that trap out in the field and then scatter a bucket 
of chaff around it ? ISTo. When you set a trap to 
catch birds you spread around it the "rich, golden 
grain, because you know that if you put chaff there 
you would not catch a bird. But these saloon- 
keepers catch you fellows, and with ' nothing but 
chaff. Did you ever get an ounce of golden grain, 
or one golden grain, in all that you have been fed by 
them ? To-night we come to you and offer you the 
golden grain ; the golden grain that will put money 
into your pocket ; the golden grain that will build up 
your character ; the golden grain that will build for 
you a reputation and a name ; the golden grain that 
will ^>uild for you a mansion beyond the vale of 
death, whither you are traveling. 

HOW THEY GO. 

" One glass don't hurt. Did you ever see a man 
commence to-day and be a drunkard to-morrow? 
11* 



238 THE TRUE PATH. 

Did you ever see a train leave your depot, and as the 
engineer opened the throttle-valve, make a jump and 
land in Columbus ? No ; but the engineer opening 
that throttle-valve, away went the engine, slow and 
steady at first, but gradually increasing its velocity 
until it was bounding along the iron rail at the rate 
of forty miles an hour. And, my brother, that is the 
history of an intemperate man. At first you go 
slowly, but gradually you increase your pace until 
the first thing you know you are bounding along 
on that railroad of glass, and you can hear the roar 
of that cataract that is beyond. You glide oh 
smoothly, but you have lost the control of self. Is it 
true, or is it not ? 

KEFTJSING HELP. 

" My brother spoke to you last night about the 
Niagara river. It brought to my mind an incident, 
and I want to ask this audience to-night to go with 
me to the banks of that river. Watch that man in 
the current. You and I are screaming at the tops of 
our voices for him to lay hold of the bushes that 
grow along the banks. But he answers, ' No ; there 
are thorns on the bushes, and I will get my hands 
scratched. I will not lay hold.' If you saw such a 
man, what would you think? Why, he has refused 
the proffered aid, and to death let him go. And to- 
night, my brother, you are in this dark, rolling 
river, and it is sweeping you on to death. Your 
friends and neighbors are crying to you to lay hold 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 239 

of the promises in this Holy Book. The thorns in 
the road with you are your prejudices, and we ask 
you who is to blame if you go on, for yonder, if you 
will but open your ears, you can hear the roar of 
that cataract, which to you, in passing over it, is 
certain death. • 

"•BURST THE BONDS." 

" And now, who is to answer all these questions ? 
For whose benefit is it ? "What interest is it to me ? 
On next Wednesday or Thursday I will leave your 
city. My business interests are nothing in it now, 
although they were great in years that are gone, for 
I shipped many car loads of black diamonds into this 
city. But to whose interest is it to be here to-night ? 
Is it to mine ? What difference does it ma^e to me 
whether a man comes down that aisle and signs that 
pledge or not, so far as I am personally concerned ? 
You are the benefited ones, you who sign, and it is 
for your interest. We ask you to stop a moment 
and use the God-giving powers within you, and act 
like thinking men, and if the toils of the serpent have 
wound themselves around, you so tight that it seems 
a hard thing for you even to attempt the effort, let 
that thought make you remember your manhood, 
and shake off the tempter now and for ever. Does a 
man in business to-day, because he fails, stop there ? 
Is there a man in your city that stands high finan- 
cially who ever attained that position without sur- 
mounting difficulty after difficulty until he reached 
the point where he now is ? Oh, burst the bonds ?" 



240 THE TRUE PATH. 

Interesting and amusing speech of Alderman Harry 
B. Smithson, one of the Murphy converts from Pitts- 
burg, delivered at a great gathering in the State of 
Ohio : 

11 My Friends: — We may expect, as Brother Olaney 
has told you, to meet with opposition — opposition 
from the men most deeply interested in this matter — 
that is the business men of the city. There is always 
a class of people who go around through this world 
measuring other people's corn in their half bushel. 
The cry now upon the streets is that the " boys" won't 
stick. Well, what are you doing to try to help them 
stick? All we ask of you is just to sit still and see 
the salvation of the Lord. We have come here to 
enter into this fight, and we propose to go through 
with it just as the old darky did when he went into 
the bear fight. There used to be an old darky in 
Kentucky who used to go out into the woods hunting 
bears, and whenever he met with an extraordinary 
large one, as soon as he got his eye on him, he would 
take off his coat and repeat this prayer: ' O, good 
Lord, if you ain't gwine to be on my side, don't you 
be on dat bar's side. Stand back and you will see 
the greatest bar fight you ever seen in your life.' 
[Laughter.] Now, let me say to you men and women 
of Springfield who to-day are opposing this move- 
ment, 'If you can't give us your influence, just you 
stand back, and you will see the greatest tussle that 
1 Old Tanglefoot' ever had in Springfield.' [Applause 
and laughter.] 

" I was talking to several men to-day about the rep- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 241 

utation of your town. What is it ? It is well known 
to many of you. The reputation of Springfield to- 
day is almost National. It is the worst city, the 
worst town in the State of Ohio. [' Give it to 'em.'] 
And who has given it that name ? Why you, and 
you, and you. The reputation of Springfield is noth- 
ing more than your own combined. Why I can re- 
member, some years ago when I was in Pittsburg, I 
went to Boston three times a year to buy goods. At 
my first visit there I was invited by the merchant 
from whom I had purchased a bill of goods to go 
round to a restaurant and take lunch. We went 
round, and while there I was introduced to several 
parties, and one gentleman asked me up to take a 
drink. We turned round and faced the bar. The 
bar-keeper at once threw out a decanter and tumbler 
for me and asked the rest what they would have. I 
asked what was in the decanter, and the bar-keeper 
said whiskey. ' Why,' said I, ' my friend, I didn't 
call for whiskey.' He said, ' No, sir, but I heard the 
gentleman introducing you as a merchant from Pitts- 
burg, and they all drink whiskey over there. Every 
Pittsburg man drinks whiskey." [Applause.] 

Captain Claney. — " Pittsburg had a pretty good 
representative that time." 

Brother Smithson. — " Yes, sir. I never went back 
on my tod. Another incident to show how a town 
may gain a reputation, as well as a man. A party 
of gentlemen were traveling Bast. They had a 
traveling companion with them called the ' Black 
Betty.' Many of you have taken one along with 



242 THE TRUE PATH. 

you from Springfield. I know some of you that 
have, and I could put my hands right on the top of 
your heads. Unfortunately they broke the cork, 
and could not get it out of the bottle, and they were 
very much worried about it. A gentleman on the 
other side of the car, seeing that they were so much 
worried, said : ' Gentlemen, what is the matter ? ' 
One of them said they had broken the cork, and 
could not get it out. 'Oh/ said he, 'that matter 
can be very soon settled,' and he rose in his seat and 
called out, ' Is there any gentleman in this car from 
Pittsburg ? ' A little man in the other end of the car 
got up and said he had the honor to represent the 
Smoky City. ' My dear friend/ said the gentleman, 
' would you be kind enough to loan me your cork- 
screw ? ' [Laughter.] 

" Eeputation ! Why, when we first started out in 
this movement the first place we went to was the 
town of Youngstown. The morning after we had 
spoken in that town, while in conversation with a 
certain gentleman, the Superintendant of the Presby- 
terian Sabbath-school there, told me in a confidential 
manner that there were but four men in Youngstown 
who knew that he had not signed the pledge. I said 
to him, 'My dear friend, don't you lay that flatter- 
ing unction to your soul, for I had not been in this 
town for more than an hour till over thirty people 
had told me that you bad not, and they told me, fur- 
thermore, that you have got some very nice liquor up 
in your cellar/ It is not hard to get a reputation. 
That was his reputation, and he thought that nobody 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 243 

but four in the whole place knew it. And I was 
very sorry to see that we came away from that place 
without that man signing the pledge. 

LOVE AND TODDY. 

"I was talking to-day with a couple of young men 
in your place, talking about how they first began and 
first learned to drink. It just reminded me of the 
first drink I ever took ; and by the by, I will just 
tell you about it. I left home when I was quite 
young to learn steamboating as a profession. I had 
obtained a situation on a boat running from Louis- 
ville to Bowling Green, Kentucky, up the Green 
River. I had steamboated up there for two seasons, 
and I was very anxious to form the acquaintance of 
some of the young folks, but their rules there were 
very strict, and they would not iutroduce a young 
man into their families without knowing who he was, 
and unless he was recommended. Being a stranger 
and having no one to recommend me, I was put to 
my wit's ends to get acquainted oq my own hook. 
Bowling Green is situated about a mile and a half 
back of the river, and walking up the railroad one 
day I saw a very handsome girl standing at the door 
of a house. I made up my mind t>hat I would like 
to form the young lady's acquaintance, but I didn't 
know exactly how to do it. I looked around and I 
spied an old darky sitting on a log un the opposite 
side of the road. Going over and entering into con- 
versation with him, I found out that he was very 



244 THE TRUE PATH. 

well acquainted with the family — in fact had known 
the family for three or four generations back. He 
was my huckleberry. I gave him a half a. dollar and 
he posted me in regard to the family for two or three 
or four generations. Seeing the old gentleman stand- 
ing in the yard, I went up and accosted him and in- 
quired if he had any chickens for sale. He looked 
at me rather strange, and asked me what I wanted 
with chickens. I told him I wanted to buy them for 
the boat. He didn't have any to sell, but somehow 
or other he happened to mention that his name was 
Fox. « What?' said I, 'Fox! is it possible?' and 
I very suddenly remembered about my mother speak- 
ing to me about her relations in Kentucky by the 
name of Fox. [Laughter.] Never had one of that 
name though, and never want one. But the old gen- 
tleman took me into the house and introduced me to 
the family, where I was at once cousined by them all. 
I was invited to call at the end of my next trip, and 
stay at the house, which I did. The custom there is 
to make a toddy in the morning, and every one in the 
family, from the baby to the oldest one in it, takes a 
drink. I being the company, the old gentleman 
brought me the tumbler first, one of those large- 
sized ones, holding nearly a quart, and I, not being 
accustomed to their ways and manners there, tugged 
away at it. It scratched my throat a little, but I 
rolled it down, and never stopped till I drained it. 
[Laughter.] At home each one of us had a tumbler 
to himself, and I supposed that was the custom there. 
In about ten minutes or so afterward (so I was after- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 245 

ward informed — laughter) the old gentleman came in 
to invite me to breakfast. But, alas ! poor Smithson 
was laid out. [Renewed laughter.] I was lying on 
the floor, and I could not have got out of that door 
if it had been as big as a barn. Now, that was the 
first drop of liquor I ever touched in my life. Al- 
though I had inherited a very strong desire for drink, 
I had always fought against it. 

TASTING LIQUOR. — TWO INSTANCES. 

" I want to say to you young ladies that are in the 
habit of passing the wine-cup around at your own 
houses — I want to say to you this : There is a fearful 
responsibility resting upon you. I will relate to you 
just one incident that occurred in Youngstown. A 
young man, an attorney there, who sang in the choir, 
on one occasion when he was preparing for a concert, 
was advised by the lady playing the organ to take a 
whiskey toddy as a remedy for a severe cold. His 
sister and himself took it. Now, let me tell you the 
consequence. When this movement struck Youngs- 
town he was almost a hopeless drunkard, and to-day 
the young lady, his sister, is an inmate in the Inebri- 
ate Asylum at Washington. And, one time in my 
history, I was passing the evening at a friend's house 
to celebrate the anniversary of his marriage. I sat 
alongside of a young lady, and the wine being passed 
around I said to her: 'You are not going to take 
that wine, are you ? ' She said she really didn't see 
bow she could refuse; that she must take a little just 



246 THE TRUE PATH. 

out of courtesy for the folks. She took one sup out 
of that glass of wine and passed me the balance. I • 
drank twenty-two glasses of wine before I left that 
house that night. That glass of wine has been part 
and portion of my suffering. That glass of wine has 
caused that dear woman thousands of hours of suffer- 
ing and of misery that no tongue can tell. 

" To-day she would give her right arm — yes, her 
life — had that glass of wine never been passed. And 
my dear, good young ladies, let me beseech you, in 
God's name, to be careful how you pass a glass of 
wine to any young man. And let me say to you 
men to-night — all of you that are dabbling with this 
unclean thing — let me ask you, let me beseech you, 
for the sake of your wives and for the sake of your 
families, to come up here and sign this pledge." 
[Applause.] 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

INTERESTING ADDRESSES. 

Address of Mr. John King, one of the Murphy 
men, in the Piqua, Ohio, Opera House, before a 
crowded audience : 

" It is a good thing that sticks. Did yo.u ever 
hear that expression, any of you ? I have heard that 
again and again from men who were thoroughly con- 
vinced that the temperance movement was a good 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 247 

thing; that it has been productive of a great deal of 
good, and likely to do a great deal more good. They 
are thoroughly convinced of its importance, that it 
is a good work, and that it has produced a great deal 
of peace, comfort and prosperity in this community. 
I am of opinion that there is not a man within the 
sound of my voice who is not convinced of the im- 
portance of this thing — fairly and squarely convinced 
that everybody ought to be temperate. There is not 
one who is not convinced that drinking intoxicating 
liquors is wrong, and that, unquestionably, the oppo- 
site is right. A man — a good fellow and a friend of 
mine — accosted me to-day, and, said he, s Why did 
you make such a fool of yourself as to join this tem- 
perance movement ? ' Said I, ' Excuse me, I don't 
think I acted the fool. 5 ' Well, you did.' ' How ? ' 
1 Well, you won't stick.' ' Well,' said I, ; I stuck 
to that other thing pretty well, didn't I? [Laughter 
and applause.] You will not charge me with not 
sticking .to that other habit ? ' 4 No ; you ■ were a 
pretty good drunkard.' ''Now,' said I, ' if I know 
myself, I am going to try and ' stick,' as you call it, 
and if you think I won't stick, I want you to come 
along and be my comrade in this matter ; be along- 
side of me, and when you see me likely to fall, sup- 
port me and make me stop. You need it as bad as I 
do, or worse. You have been drunk oftener than I 
ever was.' Just such fellows as that will let the 
wagon leave them if they are not careful. They talk 
about not sticking. They say: 'I am afraid you 
will not stick.' They will wait until they stick in 



248 THE TRUE PATH. 

the mud after awhile, and their wagon will leave 
them. 

" Now, when any man is convinced of the import- 
ance of this matter, it is his duty to come here and 
sign this pledge, and abstain from the use of intoxi- 
cating liquors as a beverage. I don't envy any man 
whose conscience tells him this thing is right, but 
who holds back and lets his conscience reproach him 
every day in the week. I think a man ought to act 
according to the dictates of his conscience, if he ex- 
pects to get along in this world. 

" I don't see why every man in the house don't 
sign at once. Every man will tell you it is wrong to 
drink whiskey. I talked that way when I drank 
whiskey. Every man talks that way. Let us all quit 
it. T, by the grace of God, will quit it. It never did 
me much good. I know it did me a heap of harm. 
It will do every body harm. Now, if you are con- 
vinced of this thing, come right along and don't put 
any miserable apology in that ' I am waiting for a 
fellow back here, and he is coming here some of these 
nights and then I will join.' You had better say c I 
will do this thing because I believe it is right.' Don't 
say ' I will go if you will.' That won't do. If the 
thing is right, do it. If it is wrong, don't do it. If 
you are convinced it is right to do it, do it at once 
and then you will have a clear conscience. I wish I 
could sign every night. I never felt better in my life 
than I did the night I signed it. I am glad I did it. 
I came across an old, broken-down friend of mine the 
other morning. I said to him, ' You had better come 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 249 

up to this meeting.' Said he, ' What do you want 
me up there for ? Do you want me to sign that 

!' using some not very pleasant language. This 

man said he was not going to sign that pledge. He 
was an old man and I was not acquainted with him. 
Said I, ' What is the reason you won't ?' Said he, 
1 1 am a free man, and I am not going to sign away 
my liberty.' Said he, ' I am twenty-one years of 
age.' Said I, ' I know you are, and nearly three 
times that." 'Well,' said he, ' I am not going to 
sign away my liberties. I am going to run the hog 
on my own side of the creek.' Did you ever hear 
the like in your life ? A free man ! Free to do 
wrong, did he mean ? I am not much of a lawyer, 
but I am enough of one to know that nobody is free 
to do wrong. Freedom of speech simply means that 
a man has got to be responsible for what he says. He 
must talk in accordance to law, or he is not free even 
to talk. There is no signing away of liberty about 
it ; it is simply a reform. 

"There is another excuse that is made for not join- 
ing this movement. Some men say, ' I would join, 
only you take in too rough fellows.' They are toney, 
those kind of fellows. [Laughter and applause.] Did 
that blessed being who came from the right hand of 
His father to save sinners select from the lawyers, 
the doctors and the merchants and the ' toney ' fel- 
lows to do His work ? If I believed in that thing I 
would be a Sadducee. Why, it is the most contemp- 
tible thing in the world. Who knows but some of 
us fellows will make great men yet ? — I mean some 



250 THE TRUE PATH. 

of the young men. I don't suppose I will ever make 
a very great man. [Laughter.] There is one thing 
sure, though ; We will never make great men unless 
we quit drinking whiskey. [' You would make great 
drunkards.'] Yes, we might make our mark, but the 
mark w r ould be on our noses." [Laughter.] 



Speech of General Joe Geiger, well-known through- 
out the "West, and delivered recently before a large 
public gathering : 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: — This is the first time I 
have had the privilege of appearing in this hall or 
presenting myself before any audience in Cincinnati 
upon the temperance question, and when I look about 
I feel, because of the scattered condition of the audi- 
ence and everybody being strange to me, a little like 
the boy in Western Pennsylvania. A gentleman was 
going along and asked a boy whom he met if he knew 
where Jake Kleinfelder lived. The boy said he did, 
and the stranger asked him to give him the necessary 
directions to find the house. ' Well/ said the boy, 
' you see our barn down there ? well, you go to that 
and then you go about a quarter of a mile beyond, 
where you come to a lane. You take that lane for 
about a mile and a-half ? and then you come to a 
branch. You follow that branch for a quarter of a 
mile, when you come to a slippery-elm log, and you 
look out for that log, stranger, for it's a three-cornered 
log. You go on about a mile further, and then you 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 251 

come to a plum thicket, and then, and then, stran- 
ger ' 

" 'And then, what?' demanded the traveller. 

u ' Well, then, stranger/ said the boy, scratching his 
head, ' then I'm blamed if you ain't lost.' [Laugh- 
ter.] I feel pretty much as if I was lost here in the 
same way to-night, without a single familiar face 
before me. There is satisfaction, however, in the 
thought that we are all engaged in the same enter- 
prize. Daniel Webster once said that the people of 
the United States had one country, one constitution, 
one destiny ; and if we are to succeed in this enter- 
prise we must be united, as I think we are, and have 
but one purpose. We must give it all our influence 
to bring it to perfection. Many persons we talk to 
on this question say they have no influence and it is 
no use for them to try to do anything. Now, when 
a man comes to the point of saying he has no influ- 
ence, the sooner he pegs out the better. He is of no 
use in the world, he is a mere incumbus And yet 
if you tell such a man he has no influence he will get 
mad at you and-denounce you. Every man has in- 
fluence. The human mind, like the earth, will pro- 
duce something. The earth will produce trees and 
fruit and cereals, or briers and weeds and mullen 
stalks, and the products of the human mind may be 
either valuable or worthless. We want you to en- 
gage in the right, to go with us in this cause. We 
want a general consolidation of our people for the 
furthering of our cause. The Union will not be per- 
fect unless all classes are identified with it, for every- 



252 THE TRUE PATH. 

thing grand in moral or physical success depends 
upon union. Once the earth was parched and blis- 
tered, and scorched by the heat of the sun. The 
rivulets were dry, the grass was brown, the leaves 
were shriveled and the cattle were famishing. Little 
particles of moisture hung in the air, all holding back 
and saying to themselves that they could do nothing. 
But the lightning went tearing through the clouds, 
and these particles were brought together, forming 
globules, the rain descended, the grass and the leaves 
revived, the streams ran bank-full and all nature was 
glad and blooming. 

" It is so in this movement. We are all small par- 
ticles, but combined we are a power for the accom- 
plishment of this Christian and benevolent enterprise. 
We want you all. A man was once riding through 
the wilderness, when he was beset by wolves. He 
urged his horse on, but still the wolves came nearer 
and nearer. In his agony of fear he cried out to his 
nearest neighbor : ' Billy Jenkins ! Billy Jenkins, 
come and save me.' He received no reply, and the 
wolves gaining upon him at every bound, the dis- 
tressed traveler cried, ' Ho ! everybody, come and 
save me.' 

" So we cry to you to help to advance this great 
moral reform. We Call particularly for the lost and 
the destitute ; we call for the drunkard ; we call for 
the loafer; we call for the thief; we call for the crimi- 
nal. We go down to the lowest dregs of society. 
We want to shelter the lazaroni, to take care of the 
destitute. We are going after the lost sheep. Christ 



GOSPELi "TEMPERANCE. 253 

came to save sinners, not the righteous. The trouble 
is some men have no practical belief in the practical 
doctrines of Christ, and go stumbling about in their 
blindness to the truths of the Bible, doiDg no good 
to anybody. When we reach down and try to snatch 
from the jaws of hell men who are plunged into 
almost irretrievable ruin, and to bear them back on 
the wings of love to the throne of the Father, we 
meet with opposition ; opposition to the advancement 
of humanity ; opposition from the high-toned, nega- 
tive opposition from the leaders in your churcbes, 
and sneers from the lofty and learned. You have 
plenty of good church-goers who would not aid a 
fallen brother, because they think it would be de- 
grading to their high natures. Many of them are 
ministering at the altar, and when it comes down to 
a practical effort to rescue a man who is absolutely 
going down pell mell to destruction, they pull their 
sacred garments about them and thank God that they 
are not like other men. [Applause.] This doctrine 
was put forth long ago, and it has come down to us 
through many generations. The meanest and most 
malignant man referred to in sacred history is Cain. 
He was a bold, bad liar, and when he had slain his 
brother, the Almighty called upon him to come forth, 
from the bushes. He was asked where his brother 
was, and replied : ' I know not ; am I my brother's 
keeper ?' How that expression has run along 
through the generations of man from that time to 
this ? How it has comforted the heartless ; how it 
has soothed the hypocritical Christian; how it has 
12 



254 THE TKUE PATH. 

been the excuse of the mean and designing — c I am 
not my brother's keeper! ' Christ came to redeem 
sinners, to raise them up, and give them a chance.* 
He didn't teach the doctrine, 'I am not my brother's 
keeper.' Now, will you adopt the words of the mur- 
derer Cain, or will you strive, with Christ's example 
before you, to help to raise the fallen? I believe 
you will take up this cause and carry it triumphantly 
through. You are a little weak down here yet, but 
I believe you will soon come up to the standard. In 
Columbus we did. 

"A fellow asked me some time ago whether we, 
who have taken an interest in this movement, would 
' stick.' I told him of course we would. You re- 
member the story of the man who had but a slight 
acquaintance of postage-stamps, and on putting one 
on a letter wrote above it, ' Good, if the thing sticks.' 
Well, that's just our case. We're good if we stick, 
and stick I know we will. We are going to stick in 
the interest of our physical, our domestic and our 
financial health, and we propose to conduct this 
movement without appeals to the authorities. We 
don't even propose to adopt the rather ingenious plan 
of Mr. Herrick for breaking up the saloons of Circle- 
ville. The grand jury up there came to the conclu- 
sion once that they would try to put a stop to the 
sale of liquor, and called Herrick in one morning as* 
a witness. He was asked if he had drank at any of 
the so-called groceries in town that morning, and 
answered that he had at all of them. ' What did you 
drink ? ' was the next question. c Gin^' was Her- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 255 

rick's reply. l Did you pay for it ' he was asked. 
'I did not,' was bis response. 'Do you intend to 
'pay for it?' followed up the foreman of the jury. 
4 No,' said Herrick, ' I do not ; I see what you 
brought me here for, and I tell you if everybody 
adopts my plan of drinking up their liquor and not 
paying for it, the saloons will be closed up a good 
deal quicker than the grand jury can shut them up.' 
" No," said the General, " we don't propose to close 
the whiskey shops* up that way. We have another 
plan. We think if we take the calves away and 
quit milking, the cows will go dry." [Laughter and 
applause.] 



On the same occasion as the foregoing, Elijah De- 
laney, of peculiar singing qualities, and somewhat 
attractive character, was called on for a song ; where- 
upon he essayed a stage effort and said : 

" Ladies and Gentlemen : — Very unexpectedly I 
am called on to-night to sing. I have been accosted 
two or three times to-day about being a ' Murphy 
boy.' They undertake to charge Mr. Murphy with 
not being very much of a reformer. They say he 
has been a bad man. Well, about that, I have come 
to the conclusion that old Aunt Dolly did, when her 
old Massa told her that if she didn't work she couldn't 
have any bread. She said it didn't make any differ- 
ence. Her bread should be given, and her water 
would be sure; that her Heavenly Father would give 
it to her. Her Massa told her just to wait and see 



256 * THE TRUE PATH. 

whether she would get it or not. He didn't believe 
her Heavenly Father would give her much. At 
night, when Aunt Dolly went to prayer, some mis- 
chievous boys took some bread and threw it into her 
cabin through the roof. When she came back and 
saw the. bread she rejoiced, thinking the Lord had 
sent ' it. Then the boys came and told her ' The 
Lord didn't send that bread to you. We threw it 
down through the roof.' Said she, ' I don't care. 
It's God's bread, even if the devil fetches it." ' 
[Laughter and applause.] 
Then came the song : 

BROTHER LIGE'S SONG. 

" ' Brudders don't you want to be dar ? 
Yes, my Lord. 
A sitting in de kingdom, 
To bear Jordan roll. 

Cborus — Roll, Jordan, roll, 
Roll, Jordan, roll. 
I want to go to beaven wben I die, 
To bear Jordan roll.' " 

[Applause.] 

Several more verses were rolled off by the brother, 
assisted by four young colored gentlemen. The suc- 
cess of this song was pronounced, and it will perhaps 
be inferred, from the sample verse given above, that 
it was more appreciated for its melody (which must 
be left to the imagination of the reader) than for its 
verbiage. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 257 

Remarks of Thomas O'Neil, a well-known brewer 
of Philadelphia, who was converted to total absti- 
nence under Mr. Murphy's efforts, a short time since. 
This brief address was delivered in the Temperance 
Tabernacle, in said city, and in the presence of a large 
meeting : 

" I feel very much like an did Methodist preacher 
who was very popular in this city some years ago. 
When he got filled up, and couldn't very well con- 
tain himself, he sung, 6 Hallelujah, hallelujah, the 
Lord God omnipotent reigneth.' He has been known 
to jump over the pulpit when he got into those en- 
thusiastic strains. I do not know but I feel like 
jumping myself. I think I bear a man down there 
say, ' That is Tommy O'Neil.' Yes, that is Tommy 
O'Neil. But it is not the Tommy O'Neil you met 
down at Lambert's the other day, or at the La Pierre. 
It is another man altogether. [Murphy — "Thank God 
for that."] The man you met at those places was a 
fool, a lunatic. The man you see here now, is sane. 
He has been brought from darkness into light, and 
from the power of Satan into the service of the living 
God. And through whom, let me tell you, there is 
not a more popular fellow in the city of Philadelphia 
than Tommy O'Neil. [Great and continued applause.] 
I am sure you would all keep quiet if you knew who 
this was. It is the first attempt I ever made in my 
life to make a speech. I want to tell you who the 
fellow is that is speaking. This is his card. It com- 
mences 'Thomas O'Neil,' and right underneath, in 
small italics, is printed ' O'Neil and Company, Brew- 



258 THE TRUE PATH. 

ers.' Why, sir ! you don't know what kind of a 
man you have got. You have captured a brewer. 
[Mr. Murphy — "I will shake hands with you for 
that." Shakes hands. Applause. Mr. Murphy — 
" Let us hear the rest of this man's speech, so that we 
can understand what position he has occupied, and, 
by the blessing of God, what he intends in the fu- 
ture."] I think that is about all there is to say. 
Are you satisfied ? I was a brewer in the city of 
Philadelphia ; and, I presume, the only Irishman that 
ever attempted anything of the kind in this city. I 
am happy to say I have abandoned the business. I 
did not like it, and it did not like me. I lost all that 
I had in it, and I believe that it was the province of 
Grod that I should lose it." 



EXTRACT FROM SPEECH OF MR. THOS. H. LEABOURN, 
A REFORMER. 

" This country has awakened to this great issue ; 
and this great movement is progressing from one end 
of the land to the other. Day after day, and night 
after night committees are coming, from many States, - 
and asking Mr. Murphy to send speakers to aid them 
in the great cause. But we are going first to awaken 
thoroughly the city of c Brotherly Love,' the great 
Centennial city of the Union, where Independence 
was first proclaimed, where the old bell first pro- 
claimed liberty through the land. [Mr. Murphy.' — 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 259 

" King it again."] When we get all to sign and 
become decent men, then we will make the sound of 
the glad tidings to go. forth into other lands. Every 
man who has any regard for his own honor and that 
of his family must sign this temperance pledge. I 
feel it was the grandest day in my life when I at- 
tached my name to it. I followed King Alcohol too 
long. When I commenced to drink I was far better 
off than I am to-night, I had an honest name and 
character, and I could look every honest man in the 
face." 



AN IMPORTANT DEPARTURE. 

Ex- Judge George M. Curtis, of New York, a crimi- 
nal lawyer, recently before the public as counsel for 
Joe Coeburn, has joined the temperance movement, 
and said : 

" I have become quite satisfied, from my long ac- 
quaintance with all classes of men, politicians, jour- 
nalists, merchants and others, that the demon rum 
means moral, physical and financial bankruptcy to 
its victims. There is no escaping this fact; it is at 
the bottom of all evil, it is the one great intolerable 
curse in all grades of society ; its powerful seductions, 
awful powers, its relentless persecution of its devotees, 
its ultimate, often deferred, but inevitable result are 
clear to me, and shall be clear to all whom my warn- 
ing voice can reach, to all who are not yet already 
deaf to reason, lost to feeling, or blind to facts." 



260 THE TRUE PATH. 

Mr. Curtis spoke with visible earnestness, his eyes 
sparkled with enthusiasm, and his whole frame 
quivered with emotion. This new departure into 
the total prohibition camp is a great surprise to Mr. 
Curtis' friends and political associates. 



CHAPTBE XXIV. 

SKETCH OF MISS FRANCES E. WILLARD. 

A few words, in reference to a lady who has en- 
gaged a large share of public attention during the 
past year or two, appear to be called for in this con- 
nection. Miss Frances E. Willard, of Chicago, has 
evidently been raised up, under God, for a great 
work in the interest of the fallen. She has come to 
the surface, as have many others, not knowing the 
extent of the ground she would find it necessary to 
occupy. Having been prepared for the work of a 
school teacher, when the proper time came, she en- 
tered upon her duties with the purpose of contribu- 
ting her share in rendering the declining years of 
her aged mother as easeful as possible. While in 
this calling she became distinguished in her church, 
at home, both as a worker and speaker. It was evi- 
dent that she was endowed with superior abilities. 
Her remarks were always forcible and reasonable, 
and often rose to the full character of eloquence. In 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 261 

this way she became known as a valuable assistant, 
wherever, in the work of God, her sex did not inter- 
fere with her presence before an audience. 

JOINED THE WOMAN'S TEMPERANCE UNION. 

Having had occasion at one time to visit the city 
of Pittsburg, during the active operations of the 
Women's Temperance Union there, she became 
deeply interested in the subject of reform as promul- 
gated by that organization, and enrolled her name 
with it. Subsequently, she took part with those who 
visited taverns and saloons, and held prayer in them. 
In this way her mind and heart were directed along 
the important paths of Temperance. She was con- 
vinced that she could honor her Divine Master more 
in that cause than in any other field of activity. She 
preferred, and fully selected it. 

SENT FOR BY MR. MOODY. 

After her return to her home, and during the .suc- 
cessful labors of Messrs. Moody and Sankey in 
Boston, a cry came up from the coasts of New Eng- 
land, reaching to the Great Lake City of the West, 
" Come over and help us." In other words, Mr. 
Moody sent all the way to Chicago for a lady of deep 
piety, and zealousness and magnetism of character — 
one adapted to public work — to come among the 
mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of New Eng- 
land, and act as a leader. It was Mr. Moody's 
12* 



262 THE TRUE PATH. 

opinion that the women of the North were as a dry • 
and well-prepared magazine, upon the subject of 
temperance, wanting only ignition ; that some devo- 
ted and able member of the Women's Temperance 
Union of the West, with the torch in hand, could 
make havoc among the forces of King Alcohol, and 
his miserable vassal and dupe, King Gambrinus. 

A CHOSEN VESSEL. 

Miss Willard was chosen. And in due course of 
time she was enabled to call together audiences of 
three thousand people, and to see many persons 
turned away for want of accommodation. She was 
admitted to be a chosen vessel, at once honored of 
men, because called and honored of God. 

The addresses of Miss Willard were remarkably 
entertaining and effective — always abounding in in- 
struction. And when speaking upon the subject of 
intemperance, she warmed into a life and power that 
frequently struck, with great force, the very deepest 
chords of feeling. Women gathered about her, to 
strengthen her hands, who had suffered from intem- 
perance, and whose influence was but fuel for the 
latent fire that burned continually within the bosom 
of our heroine. The sympathies of her whole nature 
ran out to the drunkard and his family. 

HER APPEARANCE, ETC. 

The appearance of Miss Willard- commended her 
also greatly to her hearers. She is somewhat slender 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 263 

of form, has a countenance indicating great kindness ; 
a bright, steady eye, which is generally shielded by 
glasses ; the Grecian type of features, brown hair, 
and, altogether, a tidy and winsome presence. Ad- 
ded to all this, is that noblest of woman's embellish-- 
meats, modesty — which is apparent both in her man- 
ner and subject. 

All her appeals have been founded upon, and 
mixed with, Scripture truths. She constantly has 
kept the eyes of her mind upon the Cross, as the 
sure and only safe direction for every creature de- 
graded by his appetite. 

Through this young woman's instruction, hun- 
dreds have been qualified for work, and sent forth 
against Rum, Debauchery, Profanity, and Satan. 



The following address was delivered by Miss Wil- 
lard, at a Sunday Morning Breakfast, given by the 
Francis Murphy Committee, in the Annex to the 
Academy of Fine Arts, in Philadelphia, just before 
the temporary close of the continuous meetings : 

" We have caused to ascend with our prayers the 
hymn ' I need thee every hour,' and I wish the re- 
sponse to that in your hearts might be, c O, bless me 
now, my Saviour ! I come to thee.' That is our 
part, 'I come to thee.' Your heart and my heart 
are citadels the king of kings and lord of lords can- 
not force open. Our hearts are like the Englishman's 
cottage into which Her Majesty cannot enter without 



264 THE TEUE PATH. 

permission. We are either saying to Jesus, ' Enter 
thou, if thou dost love me/ Or we are saying, 'Stay 
without, with thy locks wet with the dews of many a 
night waiting and watching over me.' Every one of 
•us is in one of these two states of mind. Ask your- 
self in which of -these two states of mind am I ? Am 
. I saying, enter thou Lord, or am I saying, stay out- 
side, Lord. 

BREAD WITH ONE HAND. 

"I cannot tell when I have been so happy as I have 
been here this morning. The praise of these meet- 
ings has been re-echoed by many a heart. Christian 
friends have spread the table to satisfy the earthly 
need as well as to satisfy the heavenly thirst. We 
must give the bread of life with one hand and the 
New Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ witlf the 
other. Christ rather than see the most repulsive 
beggar go hungry would perform a miracle, though 
he never would perform a miracle for himself. He 
had compassion on physical suffering and on diseased 
souls, and we are all alike when it comes to that, we 
all have a like need of him. 

TEMPTATION. 

" My life has been hedged about by safe-guards as 
your lives, dear brothers, have been hedged about by 
temptations. I have the quiet and sweet influences 
of home where you have been battling with tempta- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 265 

tion in the streets, and running the gauntlet of the 
rum-shops, and met often without one kind word, and 
you have thought without any one caring whether 
you were successful or not. You do not know how 
people did care, but in those days people did not get' 
into line and tell you of it as they do now-a-days; 
they did not tell you that we are all tied together by • 
a common humanity. My temptations may be on a 
different line from yours, but they are still tempta- 
tions, and nobody can know of them except God who 
came to reconcile me to Himself. 

BE HEALED BY THE DIVINE TOUCH. 

" So when I stand here this morning and speak to 
you of Christ, I am speaking of one in whom I did 
not once believe, and perhaps you do not this morn- 
ing. Many of you have been reared in Christian 
homes, and have heard this Bible read and have been 
taught that little prayer which has lain away in your 
memories : 

" ' Now I lay me down to sleep, 
I pray the Lord rny soul to keep.' 

" Oh, let that be the voice of your heart this morn- 
ing. Pray to the Lord to keep your soul, and. He will 
keep it as well as He will keep that of a little child. 
Consider whether you will be satisfied with having 
your hunger satisfied for an hour and leaving the 
divine huuger in your souls remain unassuaged for- 



266 THE TRUE PATH. 

ever and ever. Is it best to help a man for a little 
while, or to give him such strength that he will help 
himself forever and ever? It is much better to hold 
up Christ to them than it is to give them bread and 
stop there. It is better to heal a man's broken arm 
by a divine touch than it is to put it into a sling. It 
is a kind action to put it into a sling, but if you have 
the power to touch that arm and make it well, would 
not that be better. It is just so with human souls. It 
is better that they should be healed by the divine 
touch than to stop after relieving their temporal 
wants. 

doesn't know he has the appetite. 

" I never saw in an audience more kindly thoughtful 
faces than I see here this morning, and I pray to God 
that in the brotherhood of Christ' we may come into 
the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. He 
says, ' Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of 
sin.' Don't you know that well enough? He is a 
servant bowed down with a pack on his back so long 
as he serves sin, but when Christ makes a man free 
he is free indeed. Some people say of a man who 
has drank for many years, ' He has drank so long 
that his nerves have become diseased ; you need not 
talk to me about this being cured, it is impossible to 
cure him because he still has an appetite for drink.' 
I do not read in the Bible that when Daniel was 
thrown into the lion's den their teeth were extracted, 
but that they did not bite him. I simply know that 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 267 

when a drinking man takes Christ for his saviour, 
drink does not tempt him any more. He does not know 
that he has got the appetite, and that is just as well 
as if he did not have it. He will never know he has 
it so long as he holds to the loving hand of Jesus. 
He came on purpose to keep us out of dangers and 
difficulties. 

THE PRESCRIPTION. 

" I saw a man stand up in the Tabernacle in Boston, 
he was a man from Canada who had been under this 
power all his life. He was a noble kind-hearted fel- 
low, but he had the trade-mark of the drink-demon 
branded upon his face. He had been a drinking 
man for more than thirty years. He said, ' In my 
pocket next my heart I have carried my whiskey 
flask many and many a year, but I have now turned 
it out and put into its place a New Testament.' That 
is a prescription I want to give to any others who are 
in the same bondage. Christ says : " If any man thirst, 
let him come unto me and drink.' 

VISIT TO PITTSBURG-. 

" Dear old Pittsburg has such a record in Brother 
Murphy's work. I think how I looked out on. those 
vast crowds last February and heard them sing : 

" ' I hear Thy welcome voice, 

That calls me, Lord, to Thee, 
For cleansing in Thy precious blood 
That flowed on Calvary. ' 



268 THE TRUE PATH. 

"I thought what a reanimation of dry branches 
there was when I heard the chorus : 

" ' I am coming, Lord ! 

Coming now to Thee ! 
Wash me, cleanse me in Thy blood 
That flowed on Calvary.' 

"And I remembered how three years earlier — four 
years it is now — I, a quiet Western school teacher, 
came to Pittsburg because I was so interested in this 
movement. I had never cared for it before, but I 
saw it was my *luty from that time forth to let alone 
the products of the brewery, the vineyard and the 
still. And I gave my help to the cause of temper- 
ance because I wanted to help humanity. I am not 
talking to you a theory, but of something practical 
that came to me in hours of pain and danger, when I 
thought I should not live till morning. It came to 
me to say : * Oh, God, I have heard about thy laws, 
but I have never cared for thee, but let me be strong 
and I will give my life to thee, I will do just what 
you tell me.' And there came peace to my heart 
that came straight from the God of Heaven. Every 
one can get this peace from heaven that desires it. 

WHAT A SCENE. 

" I went to Pittsburg when this temperance move- 
ment began. It seems curious to me now that I 
should go there to learn about the crusades. There 
I met thirty women going to a saloon, I wanted to 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 269 

be in the midst of them. A school teacher said to 
me, ' G-o with me, we are both of us school marms.' 
We went down Market street, and we stopped before 
a saloon ; one of the women said, ' We are going to 
have Mrs. So-and-so, pray here ;' pointing out a gray 
haired woman, ' because through that door her boy 
walked to the pit of perdition. After learning to 
drink in that place he never was a man again, he 
never comforted her heart or home ; he has gone to 
ruin. Now his mother is going there to pray.' Oh, 
what a scene it was. As men passed along the streets 
they took their hats off, even the newsboys stood 
there with sober faces. There gathered around us a 
packed crowd of men and boys all standing with their 
hats off as prayers were said. I wanted to pray for 
these men, and my heart went out to God for them 
in that old Pittsburg Saloon. Then we sang, 

• " * Jesus, the water of life will give, 
Freely, freely, freely.' 

" Some of those young men seemed to know the 
hymn and 'their voices joined in with ours. This was 
but the beginning of a better day ; this is the better 
day. This is the day when young men and maiderL 
are thinking how they can help along the cause iY 
Christian temperance. m 

he 

" WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST ?" dn( J 

»ther 

" I leave this question for .you to take home,hink 

you ; what think ye of Christ ? Christ asks ; a gen- 



270 THE TRUE PATH. 

self. He does not want you to think of him in any 
way ; he tells us just how to think of him. He does 
not want you to think for other folks, that he came 
to do great good upon the earth. He said : ' If the 
son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.' l If 
I be lifted up I shall draw all men unto me.' ' This 
is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, 
and this life is in His Son.' 

"In the days of Napoleon there was a grand review 

held in Paris, the different regiments were out in 

their holiday attire and Napoleon was seated upon 

his splended charger, as he looked around upon his 

soldiers he c arelessly dropped his reins ; the charger 

bounded away, when, out from the ranks, sprang a 

tall grenadier, and throwing himself in front of the 

horse he seized the reins and presented them to the 

Emperor. Napoleon said, 'thank you, captain.' The 

man was nothing but a private before, but the 

Emperor said, ( thank you captain.' The man said, ' of 

what regiment.' The Emperor said ' of my own 

guards,' and leaving the man standing there he went 

-on. If this man had been like some of us toward the 

Threat captain of our salvation he would have said, 

0L '.he Emperor will forget about it,' or ' he did not 

^an it,' or ' there must be some mistake,' and he 

uld have gone back and taken his place in the 

iment. Instead of this he laid his gun down and 

- 'anybody can pick that up that has a mind to, 

ment 1 a captain.' Then he walked over to where 

shoulc a#nera ] s were standing. They said : ' Fellow 

I met t y 0U want ? your place is in the line.' He 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 271 

replied : 'lama captain in the Emperor's guards.' 
They then began to be respectful and they asked him, 
4 how do you know V l he says I am,' the man re- 
plied. He had not any of the outward signs on him ; 
he took the Emperor's word ; simply, that, and noth- 
ing, more. Shall you and I do that this morning? 
Shall we not receive Christ into our hearts ? The 
moment you give your heart to Christ he takes it. 
Let your next breath be a breath of faith, and your 
next pulse be a pulse of faith. God cannot lie, his 
promises are true ; he has promised and he will 
perform. 

"WHAT CHRIST IS DOING." 

" A dear little Sunday school girl came to a friend 
of mine the other day and said, l dear teacher, I am 
converted.' The teacher said : ' I will examine your 
evidences, what makes you think you are converted? ' 
She replied : ' In the book, mother read it to me, if 
children want to come He wants to have them, I 
wanted to come and I believe He wants to have me 
come because He said so.' What better reason could 
she have found? "What think ye of Christ ? Are 
you thinking of him for yourself, taking him to your 
own heart ? A geutleman went in an orphan asylum 
to try aud get a little girl to take home with him, the 
matron brought them out and he looked in this and 
in that face and walked back and looked into other 
faces and then he said to the matron, ' I do not think 
I will take any to-day: He was too much of a gen- 



272 THE TRUE PATH. 

tleman to say he did not like them, and so he said he 
would call another time. The matron said : 4 There 
is a little girl who came in this morning but she is all 
mud, I will wash her face and bring her in. 5 The 
gentleman said: 'Bring her in just as she is.' She 
was brought in ; she had a confiding look as though 
she was ready to believe everybody. The gentleman 
said, 'I lost my little girl and I want a girl to take 
home with me/ she looked into his face and said : 
' You look like a good gentleman.' ' Will you go 
home with me?' 'As you like.' 'What is your 
name?' ' Rosie Brown.' 'Have you father or 
mother V ' My father and mother are dead.' ' Will 
you call yourself Bosie Lee after me ? my name is 
Lee.' ' Yes.' ' Will you go along with me now ?' 
' Yes.' The gentleman turned to the matron and 
said : ' I will take the child home.' As he passed 
out a friend came along and said : ' What have you 
got there ?' he said to Rosie, ' Tell him.' Rosie said : 
' This is my papa and I am going to be his girl, my 
name is Rosie Lee.' The man took her into his heart 
and she took him. That is what Christ is doing ; the 
moment we give ourselves to Christ we say : ' I am 
a Christian.' We do not care about these clothes 
that are not very nice. He has garments of righte- 
ousness for you. 

CURIOUS IDEAS. 

" People have curious ideas about sin. They will 
say : ' I am a sinner, I have been a drinking man.' 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 273 

The reason you are a sinner is because you do not 
love what God loves, and you do not hate what God 
hates. I did not until I was converted. How are 
you going to get to love what God loves ? By letting 
him make us do it. 

" TEMPERANCE MAKES US ONE." 

" I have but one more word to say. Look around 
and see these flags, and it reminds us that temperance 
makes us of one brotherhood and one sisterhood ; we 
forget about our different flags and nationalities. 
We have one God, Lord over all blessed for ever- 
more. It makes you in foreign lands feel as if you 
were at home. That reminds me of a new year's call 
made by a foreigner. A lady believing that new 
years' calls, when received according to the prevail- 
ing fashion, was productive of harm, thought she 
would receive them in a different way. She asked 
me to join her, and when any one wanted to turn 
over a new leaf we would ask them to leave their 
autographs with us, and we would pray with them if 
they desired it. I went* at nine o'clock, and had 
hardly taken my seat there and got ready for visitors 
when I heard a tap at the door. They did not need 
to tap because it was new years, and so I thought it 
must be a stranger to the place. I went to the door 
and there stood a young man and woman, whom I 
knew to be foreigners by their complexion. I found 
the young man had mustered all the English he had 
to say in one sentence, and that was : ( I will sign 



274 THE TRUE PATH. 

the pledge for my wife,' and lie pointed to the lady. 
I asked him a question and thought he would say 
something more, but he knew no more of the lan- 
guage. When he put his name to it such curious 
writing I never saw ; I do not know to this day what 
language it was. He went over to this dear young 
lady and put this pledge in her hand and kissed her 
on the cheek. The tears rolled down over her cheeks 
and I knew that woman was happier than many a 
woman when presented with the title deeds to vast 
estates. I pointed to a motto, Which said, ' Trust in 
God.' I thought he could read the letters, as they 
were peculiar, but he could not read a word of it. I 
then pointed to heaven, to their God and my God, 
and I knew then it touched their hearts, the tears 
were in their eyes, and we knelt together, and in my 
English speech I asked God to bless those strangers. 
There together we invoked his presence and blessing. 
It is said, ' one touch of nature makes the whole 
world kin,' and we may say one touch of temperance 
will make the whole world kin, if we go forward 
blessing and to bless. 



Closing words of a speech, by Miss Willard, at a 
late Murphy meeting : 

" The rank and file are marching on. The work of 
the pioneers is not lost. The fanaticisms of yester- 
day are the reforms of to-day, and shall be the splen- 
did victories of to-morrow. It is something to get 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 275 

a view of the promised laud even if you only get it 
from Pisgah's top. And I hazard the prophecy, that 
if we do not see it, the time -will come when that 
which takes away the brain, and hardens the heart 
of men, and makes them cruel towards those they 
love best, shall be banished forever from the land. 
Yesterday what did you see ? You saw Wilberforce 
standing in the British Parliament, amid the scoffs 
of those about him, saying, ' I move the abolition of 
slavery in her Majesty's Colonies.' To-day the 
name of William Wilberforce stands in the peerage 
of British names. Yesterday our Lloyd Garrison, 
with a rope around his neck, was egged in the streets 
of Boston. But even while living his brow was en- 
circled with the gratitude of millions of slaves. 
Look back and you see a Galilaean carpenter stand- 
ing alone, saying : ' The words that I speak unto 
you are spirit and are life.' You know 7 that He was 
without a treasury, still He has so worked upon the 
mines of gold in this world, through the transmis- 
sion of His spirit, that the grandest temples erected 
bear at the top of them the badge of His humiliation. 
" You know His Gospel has spread to every shore. 
You know He has enthroned himself in millions of 
hearts. O ! Christ ! what hast Thou not done ? 
Coming down through the centuries, Thou hast come 
down through the Gospel, binding up the broken- 
hearted, and this day Thou hast an empire wide as 
the world. Thou dost command. Thou art King 
on the Earth this day. Thou dost go on to triumph 
more and more. Thou art in this temperance move- 



276 THE TRUE PATH. 

merit. It is Thyself that lifts men into kindliness, 
even from the depths of the gutter. May we yet say, 
every one of us : 

" ' In the Cross of Christ I Glory, 

Towering o'er the wreck of time, 
All that's bright in human glory- 
Gathers round its head sublime.' " 



Eemarks of Miss Willard, at a meeting in Boston, 
recently : 

" We wish that everybody would get converted. It 
is the only true life — to be born of God. The world 
is not all converted yet, though Christianity is the 
simplest problem that man has to encounter. There 
is no government so grand and so incalculably satis- 
factory to the Lord God, as the reign of temperance. 
Within the sacred influence of school and church 
there nestle in this broad land of ours, protected and 
covered by the star-spangled banner, two hundred 
and fifty thousand rum shops. To carry out the busi- 
ness of these groggeries requires five hundred and 
fifty thousand of America's citizens. The net revenue 
is six hundred and fifty million dollars, but that is not 
all. Seventy-five per cent, of all the murders in the 
country are committed through the influence of rum; 
fifty per cent, of all the insanity in the country is the 
result of drinking ; eighty-six per cent, of all the 
criminals in the land become such while staggering 
under a load of liquor ; ninety-six per cent, of all the 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 277 

drunken youths leave a fond, but agonized mother's 
arms to go to the black perdition of strong drink. 
Every year one hundred million of our best and 
brightest men reel into eternity and a drunkard's 
grave. Every year the statistics tell us of five hun- 
dred thousand steady drinkers and one hundred mil- 
lion moderate drinkers, and last of all are millions of 
handsome, intelligent lads going tramp, tramp, tramp 
to a drunkard's destiny. The bar-room is but the 
school of American politics. Each year one hundred 
million drunkards go 

STAGGERING UP TO THE BALLOT-BOX 

to deposit the vote which shall elect to the responsi- 
ble government of this mighty republic the candidate 
whom their drunken intelligence taught them to be 
the proper person. What a sad reflection this is for 
us to-night!" Miss Willard made a very eloquent 
appeal to her hearers to arouse themselves, and by 
their Christian endeavors free society and politics of 
their curse. 

" What have each one of you done ? Who, tell me, 
has saved one human soul from the pit of the blackest 
darkness? You have taken from fifty to five hun- 
dred dollars per year from the liquor dealers ; you 
have given to industry the strong arm and well- 
developed muscles of mature manhood; you have 
placed the keystone in the broken arch of home ; you 
have given to the Commonwealth a conscientious 
ballot, and you have given to Christ's church another 
13 



278 THE TRUE PATH. 

member. Dear brother, you can have those shackles 
that bind you broken off if you will. No matter 
what your sin, Christ can break the shackles. I tell 
you, young man, that drunkenness is the ripe fruit of 
moderate drinking. Give yourselves then on the side 
of total abstinence. If there are any here who do 
not feel the need of taking the step, I beseech them 
to do it, that they may set an example to their weaker 
brother. May you, one and all, know in your hearts 
the importance of total abstinence. I wish we could 
act as united as our forefathers did. Men and women 
of New England, see the heritage your forefathers 
and foremothers have given you ! Will you not 
stand heart to heart for total abstinence ? How true 
is it that " now is the accepted time." There is a 
time for every purpose and every work in this world. 
The time has reached us. 

THE TIME TO WORK 

has come. How many in this assembly are pledged 
on the side of total abstinence ? I ask those who are 
not, in the name of G-od, to place themselves there. 
Sometimes, they say, a woman's fingers can undo 
bars and bolts in the human heart which men cannot 
move. I think this is so, and if it is, sisters, why 
can't we do all our influence will enable us, to over- 
come this terrible tide of horror ? Many of you 
have heard the story of the confession a murderer 
made in his cell to a Christian minister. He said : 
4 If people had only come to me before, and told me 



- --— - 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 279 

these things, when my heart was young, my life 
might have been spared.' At last his sullen, tigerish, 
cold and hardened heart was broken by a woman, 
who by some little kindness found ihz door to his 
heart and the flood-gate to his tears. God help us, 
one and all, in Christ's dear name to participate in 
this glorious work." 



Extracts from subsequent speeches by Miss Wil- 
lard : 

a IN FAVOR OF FREE WHISKEY." 

" One hundred thousand of our best citizens die 
every year from strong drink; behind them are half 
a million steady drinkers ; behind them are a million 
moderate drinkers ; behind them two millions of occa- 
sional drinkers ; and behind them all, dear mothers, 
come the boys tramp, tramp, to the drunkard's doom 
out of their boyhood ! Our law-makers will restrict 
the public schools and enact tariff laws, but are all 
in favor of free whiskey." 

" BACK IN THE SHADOWS." 

"I think of my constituency, these sad-faced women 
all over the land, who sit to-night beside the darling 
embers of their blasted hearthstones. As I think how 
they have prayed and have thought the heavens were 
brass and have said to me ' I think that God is dead/ 



280 THE TRUE PATH. 

As I stand here to plead for them, oh, may God stir 
right up in your hearts that you and I, as fortunate 
people, blessed and lifted into heavenly places in 
Christ Jesus, may have something to do about it. 
Those prayers must be answered ; God shall avenge 
His own elect. Women ha^e given the best host- 
ages to fortune, they send their best beloved out with 
fearful legalized snares set along our streets, beyond 
the arms which held them long. Their boys have 
gone forever. Oh, by the danger and the pain they 
bear, by hours of patient watching over beds where 
little children lie, by the incense of ten thousand 
prayers wafted from their gentle lips to heaven, I 
charge you give them your strong arm, your kindly 
open hand, your generous heart, your earnest prayers 
that God may speed them in their work for temper- 
ance. Give them every possible aid to turn into ac- 
tivity, to turn into wholesome results the wonderful 
power that' has been so long pent up in their souls. 
How they set back there in the shadows." 

" COFFEE HOUSES." 

" There are two modes of promoting the reformation 
of men addicted to intemperance. One is from with- 
out and the other from within. The former proposes 
by the establishment of reading-rooms, coffee-houses 
and other counter attractions to protect against the 
enemy by removing temptation from the victim of 
appetite and securing for him a comfortable and safe 
retreat. This is to prop the man up from without. 



GOSPEL. TEMPERANCE. 281 

The other plan contemplates building him up from 
within by bringing the grace of God to his heart, and 
by throwing the light of the Gospel upon his dark- 
ened and blinded life lead him up from that devious 
pathway leading to destruction wherein he has been 
walking." 

" LET NONE PREACH CREAM AND PRACTICE SKIM 
MILK." 

" Oh, let us be guided in our daily life. by the Golden 
Rule, 4 Whatsoever ye would that men should do 
unto you, do ye even so unto them ;' or, in the com- 
mon nineteenth-century phrase, it would be, ' Pat 
yourself in his place.' Yet if I were a prisoner, and 
anybody was to put himself in my place he would 
have to think about it for a while, and after being re- 
leased he would lead such a life that he would never 
get put in again. If we are to pat ourselves in 
others' places, then let us go to those who are prison- 
ers of drink and try to lift them, just as we do those 
on a more material scale. May it be the prayer of 
our life that profession may not take the place of 
performance in our lives. As an old farmer said, 
1 Let no one in this world preach cream and practice 
skim milk.' By His grace removing idols out of our 
hearts, by the implantation of God's peace therein 
through prayer, may you say, ' I will by His dear 
grace have for my motto : ' Christ, make my life a 
flaming zeal for Jesus, wrought in me by the Holy 
Ghost.' " 



282 THE TRUE PATH. 

CHAPTEE XX V.. 

IMPORTANT EXTRACTS. 

Col. Drew, an eloquent Gospel Temperance orator, 
has labored efficiently for some time past in New- 
England and parts of the Middle States. The fol- 
lowing were his closing remarks before a meeting at 
the Tabernacle, in Philadelphia, lately : 

" A man seventy years of age who had pawned every 
article of furniture, and even the tools of his trade, to 
gratify his desire for drink, finally came through from 
drink to sobriety. I asked him to make a speech, 
and he said : 'After I signed the pledge, I made up 
my mind I would pass the saloons without stopping, 
so I got up all steam, and, almost running, got by 
them one after ^another, although with great effort; 
at last I felt I must go into one, but I kept up a 
quicker run and got home.' ' Perhaps,' said he, 
'you remember that in one of the wonderful voyages 
of Sinbad, the sailor, he was sailing along with his 
ship and he came near a mountain of loadstone, and 
he instantly felt that first one bolt was drawn out of 
his ship, and then another, until finally the ship went 
down. Just so when I go by a rum-mill. I feel that 
a bolt of my resolution is drawn out, and then another, 
and I am careful or I will go to pieces.' So I say 
to those who have recently signed the pledge, that 
they must redouble their exertions if they would not 
fall. Set all sail when you go by those rum-holes, 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 283 

and after you get by them several times it will be 
easier for you. I like this temperance pledge for the 
universal brotherhood it infuses. It makes no differ- 
ence between the rich and the poor, the educated and 
the uneducated. It stretches out its blessed arms to 
every man suffering from drink, be he high or low, 
and says to him in effect, 'Come with us and be 
saved.' It goes out into the highways and byways, 
into all the alleys of the great cities and searches out 
men. What for ? For honor ? For money ? For 
emolument? No. But because they are human beings 
made in the image of our heavenly Father, and be- 
cause they have capacities, every one of them, for a 
reformed and regenerated life. That is this Temper- 
ance G-ospel. It is a part of Christianity, as all tem- 
perance movements must be. It is a Christian tem- 
perance movement because it recognizes the great 
doctrine of the fatherhood of God and the brother- 
hood of man, and teaches every man, who wants to 
worship God in an acceptable manner, to try and do 
something for his fellow-man. Go out here on any 
one of the streets and you will find a man reeling 
and staggering with drink, with no money, no friends, 
no opportunities, no position. You don't know him. 
Nobody knows him. You might pass him a thousand 
times on the street without looking at him. You 
might pass him a thousand times, thinking that to 
save him would not amount to anything. Bring him 
here ; give him the pledge ; put a new garment on 
him ; a new song in his mouth, and you do not know 
him. Can you calculate the issues that depend upon 



284 THE TRUE PATH. 

this single succoring of this unknown and obscure 
man ? This man may have a family ; they are made 
happy ; his children are freed from their heritage of 
shame ; his wife is relieved from her apprehensions 
and sorrow. He probably has a dissipated neighbor 
who says, ' Here is Jones, look at him, he has a clean 
collar on, he is bringing a carpet into his house.' 
And soon they say, 'there goes a piano into his 
house.' His comrades in his work who formerly 
used to say to him, ' Let us go in and take a beer,' 
ungrammatical, as well as silly, look at Jones and 
say, ' His children dress better than we do, it is be- 
cause he does not spend that twenty-five cents for 
beer.' And each one says, ' I will sign the pledge 
as he has done.' What have you done? You have 
saved one unknown man, picked up in the streets at 
midnight ; but for all you know, and for all any man 
knows, you may have, by bringing him to the pledge, 
started a current through this population, a current 
perpetually deepening, widening and growing purer 
and better ; a current of piety, usefulness and strength, 
flowing through the ocean of ordinary humanity, as 
the Gulf Stream flows through the sea." 



The world-renowned Evangelist, Mr. D. L. Moody, 
has done a glorious work on the side of temperance, 
in Boston, during the past number of months. His 
appeals are worthy the attention of Christians and re- 
formers everywhere. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 285 



" HE WILL FORGIVE AND HEAL." 

On Friday noon, February 16, the Tabernacle was 
again crowded, and Mr. Moody preached his third 
discourse from the words, " Who forgiveth all thine 
iniquities," in the 103d psalm. He dwelt especially 
on the word, "Forgiveth," saying: " That is what the 
Lord wants to do with every man and every woman 
gathered in this building to-day. But he does more 
than forgive. You might have a prodigal boy that 
would go off like the one we read of in the fifteenth 
chapter of Luke, and in some foreign country con- 
tract some disease and come home and repent of his 
sins, and ask you to forgive him, and you might for- 
give him, but you could not heal him. But the Lord 
does more than forgive : He forgiveth all our iniqui- 
ties, and healeth all our diseases. 'Now, some people 
saj they have become so addicted to strong drink, 
that it has become a disease with them ; never m.ind, 
bring it to Christ — He will heal all thy diseases. I 
would not give up a man because his own power over 
himself is gone ; it is the power of God that is going 
to save him, not his own ; and if a man is so given to 
drink that it is a disease, don't become discouraged 
and think there is no hope for that man. ' He for- 
giveth all thine iniquities, He healeth all thy diseases, 
He restoreth thy soul.' He forgiveth and healeth. If 
a man only brings his disease to Christ, if he only 
brings this appetite to the Son of God, God is able to 
forgive him and heal him. Bat He does more than 
13* 



286 THE TRUE PATH. 

forgive and heal. A man may be forgiven and 
healed, but Christ redeemeth his life, not from the 
power of Satan, but from the hands of justice. Every 
man who has sinned and transgressed the law of God, 
oh ! ' He redeemeth thy life from destruction ' — that 
is what God wants to do. He will redeem every 
drunkard in this town if he wants to be redeemed, 
and is willing to be redeemed for God's glory, if 
his aim is to glorify God. A man need not come to 
God to get rid of his appetite if he means to be an 
infidel, to sow tares if he means to fight against G-od. 
Perhaps it is better that he should 

GO INTO A DRUNKARD'S GRAVE. 

than to sow tares and do what he can to destroy the 
Lord's works. He does more than forgive, heal, and 
redeem, He ' crowneth thee with loving kindness 
and tender mercies.' He crowneth thee with loving 
kindness and tender mercies. Every child of Grod 
that has been redeemed is crowned with loving kind- 
ness and tender mercies, and the blessings of Heaven. 
But there are a great many people who have the 
crowns, but are not satisfied. I -have no doubt that 
a great many crowned heads in Europe are dissatis- 
fied, and they do not know what peace and comfort 
are. He does more than crown — He satisfieth. There 
are five precious things that the Lord gives every one 
that believeth in Him : Forgiveth all thine iniquities, 
healeth all thy diseases, redeemeth thy life from de- 
struction, crowneth thee with loving kindness and 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 287 

tender mercies, and satisfieth. You can not get any 
higher than satisfaction. What does a man want 
more than that ? That is the top round of the ladder, 
and the angels of heaven can not get any higher; 
the redeemed in glory can not get any higher; that 
is the very highest to which we can go, my friends. 
Satisfieth — God will satisfy every one of us if we will 
only come to Him. That it just what He wants to 
do. Oh, may Grod help us to come to Him to-day. 
No wonder the Psalmist says, ' Bless the Lord, my 
soul;' he had got something to bless the Lord for, and 
if you will only take Christ as God's gift, and your 
way and your portion, you will have something to 
praise God for. I hope every man tha # t is a slave to- 
day to strong drink will come just as he is, and ask 
God to heal all your diseases, to redeem your life from 
destruction crown you with loving kindness and tender 
mercies, and satisfy your soul. He can do it. He 
longs to do it. God will grant your requests. The 
sinner wants to get in the place of receiving and put 
God in the place of giving, and then salvation will 
flow into his soul. Before we have a few moments 
of silent prayer, I would like just to make a state- 
ment that may encourage you to pray. At the 
young men's meetings and at other meetings which 
we have had, at the Friday meetings, and at the 
small meetings this week, there have been a great 
many who have been, as we believe, saved by the 
answer to prayer. They have been deprived of their 
appetite for strong drink. It shows that God is al- 
ready commencing to answer our prayers. I say this 



288 THE TRUE PATH 

to encourage you to pray. It has just been reported 
about again that those who have been drunkards and 
reformed, don't stand, and now that is being denied. 
I have just got a letter this week from Philadelphia ; 
for I had heard that one of several hundred men who 
had been saved in that city had fallen, and so I wrote 
back there to inquire about it, and I got this letter 
in answer from the man himself, saying that he had 
only been down for a few days, but he had been 
raised again by the power of God, so that the very 
day this letter was written he was leading the noon 
prayer- meeting. He had been one of the greatest 
drunkards in Philadelphia, but God had heard and 
answered his prayer. Some may say that because 
these men haVe been saved, it is no sign that they 
have been reclaimed. A great many of us Christians 
have done a good many things since we were con- 
verted that we ought not to have done, and I don't 
see why we should cast these men off because they 
have fallen. Instead of trying to help them some 
seem to rejoice at it and call their neighbors' attention 
to it, and say, ' Now see how that man has fallen.' 
Let us try to raise them up instead of rejoicing in 
their fall. It seems as though you were doing the 
devil's work when you rejoice at a man's fall instead 
of trying to raise him up. Go to work and get him 
away from the devil if you can. The devil has got 
him down — a good many are trying to help the devil 
keep him down. Because a man has fallen again it 
is no sign that he has not been reclaimed. I tell you 
Christ will heal the backslider and get him on his 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 289 

feet again ; He has saved hundreds of men in that 
way. 

HOW A FIFTEEN-CENT SCRIP SAVED A DRUNKARD. 

" A man came into our meeting in the Hippodrome 
the last night we were there, and I have been anx- 
ious to hear how he was getting along, and this week 
I heard from him. He was not only a tramp, but he 
had got down about as low as any tramp could get. 
His will power was all gone. He had no rags to cover 
his nakedness. He was as filthy and as far gone as 
any man I have ever seen. He came into the Friday 
meeting and stayed to the second meeting, and some 
friends prayed with him ; whether they effected any 
change in him, at that time, I don't know. He told 
them he didn't know anything about Jesus.' He said, 
' He won't answer my prayer, I am so great a sinner.' 
But this was his experience, as he narrated it to me 
afterwards. He said he had a fifteen-cent scrip in 
his pocket, and he said the first day after, ' If the 
Lord will help me keep that piece of scrip twenty- 
four hours I will take that as a token He will answer 
my prayer. If I shall just be able to walk through 
the streets of New York twenty-four hours without 
spending it for whiskey, I will take-that as an answer 
to my prayer.' He had no place to lay his head, but 
wandered about the streets all that time, and when 
he came back to me afterwards and I asked him how 
he was getting along, and all he said was, 



290 THE TRUE PATH. 



' I HAVE GOT IT NOW. 



I heard from him last week, and he said, ' I have got 
it dow.' He hadn't spent it for whiskey. [Laughter 
and applause.] He says, he intends to keep that 
piece of currency as long as he lives. God help him 
to do it ! [Cries of Amen.] That shows how God 
can save the poor drunkard. Let us believe in 
prayer Before we have a silent prayer, I would like 
to read a request from a little child ? ' Dear Chris - 
tain (written in a childish hand), will you please pray 
for my father; he is a drunkard, and for that cause I 
am without a home, and when you pray for him, 
remember me, a little girl.' O, may God bless the 
little girl, and may God hear our prayers and save 
that father. Let us have a few moments' silent 
prayer Let us all pray." 

After a season of silent prayer, Mr. Moody intro- 
duced to the audience Mr. Sawyer, who had come 
from Chicago to take charge of the work of reform 
in Boston. 

Mr. Sawyer spoke at some length in a rapid and 
forcible manner, and gave an extract from his own 
experience, at Mr. Moody's request, in which he said 
he knew what it meant to be houseless and home- 
less, a poor miserable leper, given up to strong drink 
for twenty years, but saved through the blood of 
Christ four years ago. 

He had been a boy with Jordan, Marsh & Co., and 
was doing well and had many friends, but the enemy 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 291 

overcame him. He got on the road to Jericho, 
got stripped of his raiment and beaten ; everything 
was gone and he hadn't a hope on earth. It was 
while in this condition — a wretched drunkard — that 
he stumbled into a lawyer's office in Poughkeepsie, 
and fell asleep in a chair. When he awoke, the 
lawyer told him he understood his case, said he had 
been there himself, told him how he was cured by the 
grace of God, nine years before, and how he had been 
kept ever since. But it was hard for him to believe 
it, the cure seemed so simple ; and then the lawyer 
told him the story of Naaman, and said that the very 
reason he hesitated to accept it was because it was 
so simple. He took him at his word, turned his back 
on Jericho, and faced the promised land. He stop- 
ped drinking and went to praying. He forsook his 
evil ways, and had been happy ever since, and try- 
ing what he could do to bring the same blessing upon 
others. Mr. Moody then rose, and the following 
brief colloquy took place : 

Mr. Moody.—*" Has your appetite come back?" 

Mr. Sawyer. — " No, sir " 

Mr. Moody. — " Has God entirely destroyed your 
appetite so that it never troubles you ?" 

Mr. Sawyer. — " I would not like to say that God 
takes away the appetite, but he covers it up so that 
we don't know where it is if we live near Him. When 
we don't live near Him, Satan finds it again and plays 
on it. But if we live near him we don't know where 
it is." 



292 THE TEUE PATH. 

Extracts from Mr. Moody's late temperance dis- 
courses : 

THE "RUM DEVIL" TO BE OAST OUT BY PRAYER. 

" I think this rum devil is the worst devil we have, 
and we are not going to cast him out by great meet- 
ings and lectures, but by prayer. Now there are 
some women in Chicago that have had a daily prayer 
meeting every afternoon at three o'clock right along 
for two years, and I do not know of anything that 
has made the same impression on me as those meet- 
ings. While I was in Chicago I used to drop in, 
steal in and stand behind a post to see how it was 
done. There were three to five hundred men and 
women gathered there at this meeting conducted by 
ladies, and there were from twenty-five to one hun- 
dred drinking men, some of them so drunk that they 
had to take them out because they were noisy, and 
when they were sobered off they would bring them 
back. During the past two years they have taken 
the names of fifteen hundred men, and they are follow- 
ing them up. Now what they do can be done in 
Boston. What we want is that Jerry McCaulay 
affair. He has a meeting every night. It is known 
all over New York, and when a man feels that he 
needs prayer he goes down there and they pray for 
him." 



"NO MORE WHITEWASHING/ 

" The church of God has been asleep long enough. 
We do not want any more whitewashing, we want 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 293 

men recreated, and then they will have power to 
overcome this terrible appetite, to hurl the cup from 
them and live as God would have them live. I want 
to throw this out as a suggestion, and if the praying 
men and women in this audience think they would 
like such a meeting let them do what I suggest. It 
is easy enough to come up to this anniversary and 
clap your hands, but we want those who are willing 
to work three hundred and sixty-five days in the 
year. It is a long, steady pull, but we want it. It 
seems to me this work is in the very air. I believe 
we are going to put this terrible curse away, and I 
trust there is a time coming when if there is a minister 
of the gospel that stands in the pulpit and advocates 
a moderate use of liquor, the men and women will 
get out of the church as Lot did out of Sodom. 
[Applause.] I tell you, get a man that encourages 
this traffic out of your church. We want clean hands 
to carry the pure gospel from the churches. We 
want the church right, and then we will have power 
with God and man." 

THE BIBLE WAVE RISING. 

" I like this organization because it is stirring up the 
church, and I believe it is about the only organiza- 
tion that reaches the question. We have this church 
so pure and holy, and when the church takes hold of 
this matter and reaches a helping hand to the drunk- 
ards and tells them that there is hope for them, they 
will come flocking in. That has been demonstrated 



294 THE TRUE PATH. 

in this city and in Philadelphia. During the past 
few weeks we hear tidings from that city that are 
wonderful, and we hear them from Pittsburg and 
Ohio. The Bible wave is rising in the West, and I 
hope it will sweep over the land. Let that be our 
prayer and that be our work." 



WORDS OF POWER. 

At a temperance meeting in the Philadelphia Tab- 
ernacle, held April 6th, 1877, Mr. Samuel P. Godwin, 
President of the Franklin Reformatory Home, made 
a few telling and forcible remarks, which had a pro- 
nounced effect upon the large audience present. We 
extract the following from them as worthy general 
perusal. He said : 

" I could say a great many words when I behold a 
man on my left hand, who has been the subject of 
my prayers for the last twelve months, giving testi- 
mony in behalf of this great work. If Brother 
Murphy had accomplished no other good in the 
hands of the Lord but the turning of this one young* 
man to Christ, he would have done more than you 
or I have done in a lifetime. It is nothing for you 
and I to stand up in behalf of total abstinence, but it 
is something for these dear souls that have dared to 
do right and to conquer. I feel like bowing down in 
reverence at the feet of men who have dared to come 
boldly and sign the pledge and keep it through the 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 295 

grace of God, and we ought to do all we can to ad- 
vance the interest of such men. Let us do all we 
can to replace them in their position in society and 
the family circle, and lift them up to true. manhood." 
Words like these can only come from the heart, 
and from one of noble proportions. 



We make the following extract from an eloquent 
address by Hon. William Moran, at the Temperance 
Tabernacle, in Philadelphia, May 6th, 1877 : 

" I would rather be the instrument of accomplish- 
ing the good which Murphy has brought about, and 
have his power over the affections of the people, than 
have the eloquence of a Cicero or a Demosthenes, or 
be President of the United States. Should that great 
reformer remain with us one whole year, I verily be- 
lieve there would be no necessity of appropriating 
$800,000 for the support of our Almshouse, $250,000 
to the House of Correction, and a million of dollars 
to the support of a large police force. Two-thirds of 
the amount thus expended, was due to the rum traffic. 
Our government pensions those who become wounded 
in its service ; and he saw no reason why the rum- 
seller should not be compelled to support the pauper 
and the criminal, made so through his furnishing the 
means. By the success of the temperance movement, 
taxation would be reduced, and thousands of now 
desolate homes made happy. The' true remedy for 
all ills resultant upon intemperance is total abstinence. 



296 THE TRUE PATH. 

'Touch not, taste not, handle not,' is the only motto 
which will yield protection to the tempted ; and I 
would to' God that all who hear me would adopt it as 
their own. 

" The people of this city and State owe Mr. Murphy 
a debt of gratitude which they can never repay. His 
work will live after him, when he shall have passed 
away and received the rich reward which is doubt- 
less prepared for him in the heavens." 



At the meeting of the Ninety-third Annual Con- 
vention of the P. B. Church of the Diocese of Penn- 
sylvania, Bishop W. Bacon Stevens treated the sub- 
ject of Temperance as follows : 

" The temperance question is occupying much of 
the public attention at this time. How far the present 
movement as seen in this city, differing, as it does, 
from all previous' efforts, will secure permanent re- 
sults, cannot at present be known. We do know, 
however, that a great good has been accomplished ; 
we do know that it takes by the hand the drunkard 
in his poverty, without work, and without, perhaps, 
a friend, and does not say to him, be ye warmed and 
filled, notwithstanding we give him not those things 
which are needful for the body, for it finds work for 
the workless, bread for the foodless, garments for the 
naked, shelter for the houseless — friends, Christian 
friends, for the friendless. It is a noble illustration 
of the true union of faith and works, and hence the 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 297 

remarkable Success which has attended these efforts 
to reclaim the intemperate. We cannot but speak 
respectfully, thankfully of this work. Not to do so, 
methinks, would be to incur the rebuke our Lord 
gave to John, who, when he complained to Jesus, 
saying, ' Master, we saw one casting out devils in 
thy name, and we forbade him because he followed 
not us.' f Forbid him not, 5 replied the large-minded 
Jesus, 4 for there is no man which shall do a miracle, 
in my name that can lightly speak evil of me, for he 
that is not against us is on our part.' For though 
these men do not profess to work miracles, yet if by 
the grace of God working through their instrumen- 
tality, they can bring the once drunkard and hitherto 
ferocious men to sit at the feet of Jesus, clothed in 
their right minds, then I think we may see Grod's 
hand in the work, and feel assured that at any rate 
it is not against it." 



CEAPTEE XXYI. 

A FAMOUS LECTURER HEARD FROM. 

Of course, nearly all men in our country know of 
the name of John B. Gough, the eloquent. For half 
a life-time he has delighted the people of our large 
towns and cities with his rare eloquence and inimit- 
able humor. But few may know, however, that he 



298 THE TRUE PATH. 

is earnest and bold in advocacy of Gospel Temper- 
ance. At a recent meeting, in the Boston Taber- 
nacle, he sat close by Mr. Moody, who, before the 
close of the services, said: "Mr. Gough says it is 
very hard work for him to keep still, and he is liable 
to break out at any minute ; but I ain't going to let 
him say anything now. I tell him he can talk to 
you five hours to-night if he wants to." 

Thus, the famous lecturer was announced, and, 
when the evening came, the Tabernacle was crowded, 
whilst many hundreds were turned away. The lec- 
ture itself was one of his very finest efforts, and pro- 
duced a powerful and magical effect, throughout, 
upon his hearers. We give a verbatim report here 
of the speech, since it was made in the interest of 
gospel temperance, to a gospel temperance meeting, 
and in a real gospel temperance spirit. It will cer- 
tainly amply amuse, and repay, every one, in its pe 
rusal. "We think our work would be incomplete did 
we not send forth this latest, newest and best of 
Gough's addresses. 

We are told that, in its delivery, he began deliber- 
ately, warmed up as he progressed in his subject, and 
gave to it the gestures, attitudes, looks and tones re- 
quired. There was continued and deafening applause, 
as the remarkable " hits" of the speaker fell, one 
after the other, upon his audience. We urge upon 
every one the perusal of this : 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 299 



MR. GOUGH'S GOSPEL TEMPERANCE LECTURE. 

" I think no person could occupy the position I 
occupy to-night without being weighed down under 
a sense of the responsibility of the position — to speak 
to such an audience of thinking men and thinking 
women as are assembled in this building to-night. I 
am to speak to you on the subject of temperance, a 
theme that is very dear to me. When I look back to 
thirty-four or thirty-five years ago, and remember the 
hand that was laid on my shoulder as I walked the 
streets of the city of Worcester as forlorn and hope- 
less as any man that ever stood or sat within the 
wails of this Tabernacle, remember the utter prostra- 
tion with the desire for better things, but no hope ; 
with ambition for something better, but no expecta- 
tion ; with pride enough, but no energy, no freshness 
of feeling, and although thirty-five years have passed 
since the day I signed the charter of my freedom, 
and it looked upon that paper like the signature of 
Stephen Hopkins on the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, I remember distinctly the feeling, the senti- 
ment, the circumstances of that time, and they were 
brought before me this afternoon very vividly. But I 
will not occupy time in speaking of my own personal 
experience ; I come to you with the result of thirty- 
four, thirty-five years' observation among the drink- 
ing men and among those who are engaged in the 
noble work of reform, and as they all say I use more 
illustration than argument, tell more stories than I 



300 THE TRUE PATH. 

use logic, I wish to relate an incident that occurred in 
my own experience but a short time since. 

"A young Scotchman called to see me, who showed 
me his diploma as a physician. He was a graduate 
of Edinburgh University, a fine-looking fellow, as 
handsome a man as ever walked the streets, but being 
marked and scarred by this enemy. After some con- 
versation he left me, and his last words rung in my 
ears ; his last words brought the tears to my eyes, and 
I think I shall never forget them. Standing before 
me, he said : ' I am very much obliged to you, Mr. 
Gough ; you have given me your time, and you have 
told me the truth, but it's na use, and there is na hope. 
Shake hands with me, will you, I am a lost laddie,' 
and he went away. As I saw him going out, stalwart 
and strong, in the pride of health, ' I am a lost laddie,' 
my eyes filled with tears, and in the night I awoke, 
hearing the cry of a despairing man, ' I am a lost lad- 
die.' How many lost laddies are there to-day, in these 
United States ; how many are there in this city of 
Boston, and I could not help thinking this afternoon 
as I think now, as I look upon this audience, what are 
we assembled for ? To bring home, and freedom, and 
salvation to lost laddies in Boston, to tell them there 
is hope for them, to stir them up to exercise the power 
God has given them, to break their fetters, to stir 
them up into a natural ambition to battle with the 
evil that has held them so many years, and stand up 
free men, saved, saved by the power of the grace of 
Him who is able to save to the uttermost all those 
that come unto Him. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 301 



HOW DO MEN BECOME DEUNKARDS i 

" Now I want to say a few words, and they will be 
to-night, with very little connection, all bearing, as far 
as I can make them, upon the question : How do men 
become drunkards? I maintain this, that every man 
who becomes a drunkard, becomes so in trying to be 
a moderate drinker and failing. Now there are some 
men that can drink moderately. I should be very 
foolish to stand before an audience like this and say 
a moderate drinker is worse than a drunkard, that if 
a man drinks he must become a drunkard. There are 
men who can and do drink moderately, and there are 
some Christian men who can and do drink moderate- 
ly. Now I want to say a word or two to moderate 
drinkers before I go farther. They are the hardest 
cases in the world to move, because they have not 
lost reputation, they have not lost property, they 
are not bearing the terrible burden of their sin 
as some of these intemperate men are, and there- 
fore they are hard to reach. ' I never hurt myself 
by drinking; I don't see that I am injuring myself 
in any degree by it/ and they are the hardest 
cases in the world to move. So I want to say at 
once to the moderate drinker, You can drink mod- 
erately, perhaps — there are some men that can not 
for certain. I could not be a moderate drinker; I 
could no more be a moderate drinker than you could 
blow up a powder magazine moderately, or fire off a 
gun a little a time. [Laughter.] I have tried it and 
14 



302 THE TRUE PATH. 

failed. You say you are a weak-minded man. Very 
well, have it at that if you choose. I tell you, sir, if 
I am so weak-minded that I can not drink moderate- 
ly, thank God I am strong enough to let it alone alto- 
gether. [Applause.] I want to say to moderate 
drinkers, drink if you will, drink if you must, but 
don't you dare to tell these young men that you set 
them a good example. How do you know ? 

" I was once in a town in New York and saw a 
church that was building with a very superb, symmet- 
trical spire. From a small window, high up, a plank 
was pushed out about ten feet, and held by ropes 
fastened within. Again I saw a man get out of that 
window and step right on that platform without fall- 
ing. How many of you could do it ? How many of 
you ? I saw a man on the sidewalk halloo to him. 
He put his hands on his knees and looked down and 
hallooed to the man. Now that man could stand on 
that platform, and did, but if I had set my foot on 
that platform, the moment I saw the depth of one 
hundred and thirty feet below me, I would have 
gone down. I could not help it. No logic, no argu- 
ment, no mind, no will, no genius, or intellect could 
have helped me. I could not help myself. Now I 
say, sir, if you can stand on that plank and you tell 
me you set me a good example and you induce me 
by your encouragement to follow your example, be- 
cause it is a safe one, to stand on that plank, and I 
fall, what then ? Your skirts are full of my blood. 
It must needs be that offences come, but woe unto 
that man by whom they come. You tell the young 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 303 

man you set him a good example — how do you 
know? If there was a bridge built over a gulf, to 
fall into which was utter ruin, that hold one hun- 
dred and fifty pounds, and you weigh one hundred 
and thirty, it is a safe bridge for you to walk on as 
much as you please. Here stands a man that weighs 
two hundred pounds, and you tell him to follow 
your example. 'I don't like the looks of that bridge,' 
he says. Don't be a fool, I have walked it for ten 
years, and it is safe; don't mind what others say. 
Now you follow my example, in moderation — don't 
get into a rush — exercise your self-control — step 
there — now another — step in a moderate way — don't 
get excited.' So he goes on till he sets his foot on 
the centre, and crash ! he goes to destruction. Did 
you set him a good example ? No, because you did 
not take into consideration the difference between 
your weights. Do you dare to tell that young man 
' You are safe, I am a good example,' unless you have 
studied his susceptibilities, and that takes a lifetime 
to tell. 

" Now, you say if a man can not drink moderately 
he is weak-minded. What do you mean by weak- 
minded? It requires more strength of mind, firmness 
of purpose, decision of character, more of an iron will, 
to break a bad habit you have acquired. Did you 
ever try to break a habit — any little thing, for in- 
stance ? There is a young lady whose fingers are 
marred and disfigured. What is the matter? She 
bites her nails. Can't she break the habit ? I have 
known girls to work for months before they could get 



304 THE TRUE PATH. 

rid of the habit of biting their nails. I knew a man 
who had acquired the habit of reading with his elbow 
on the desk in front of him, and he would twist his 
hair around his fingers. Some one said : * What are 
you pulling your hair out for? 'Why,' he said, 'I 
acquired the habit and I can not read with comfort 
without doing it.' I knew a man who made up his 
mind to give up the use of tobacco. He used to use 
Cavendish plug tobacco, and he put his hand in his 
pocket and threw the plug away, saying : ' That's the 
end of it.' 'But,' said he, 'that was only the begin- 
ning of it.' Oh, how he wanted it. He would lick 
his lips, and he chewed tooth-picks and anything he 
could get to keep his jaws going. But nothing would 
satisfy him. His mouth tasted as if it were full of 
cold cream all the time, and his very tongue seemed 
to be curled over with intense desire. Well, after he 
had worked a day or two in that way he said : ' I am 
not going to suffer like this ; I will get some.' He 
bought a plug and said: 'When I want it awfully 
I will take it.' He did want it awfully, and he took 
it out and — he thought it was his better spirit striving 
— he held it in his hand. ' I love you, and I want 
you, but are you my master or am I yours ? I am a 
man and you are a thing ; I am a man and you are a 
weed. I want you, but, you black devil, I will master 
you yet if I die for it, for it never shall be said that 
I, a man, was mastered by a thing ; yes, I will.' 

"Now there are persons that tell us that it is harder 
to give up the use of tobacco than the use of drink. 
Do you believe it ? Do you believe it ? I grant you 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 305 

it may be to a man that takes one glass of ale once a 
day, and does not care whether he takes it or not ; 
but when the appetite lays hold of a man, how many 
men in this assembly to-night can testify that it is an 
awful struggle — a terrible fight? What will not a man 
do and suffer and give to get drink ? In my experi- 
ence of thirty -four years I have come across some 
fearful cases. What will not men do to get drink ? 
I will give you one case as an illustration. A gentle- 
man said to me : ' It seems very hard while I have 
been fighting drink all my life it should come into my 
own house. Now I have five children, four daughters 
and one son. Three of the daughters are married 
and my youngest is living with me, and my only son 
is dying without hope.' He had delirium tremens a 
second time. The physician, who told me the cir- 
cumstances afterward, said that he went to see him. 
' Now,' he said, ' Charlie, you know' me ; you know I 
am your friend, and you know I will tell you the 
truth. You have a hard siege before you, my boy ; 
you have a tremendous fight ; you have some suffer- 
ing to go through ; but I think I can pull you through 
it by my skill and God's good providence and your 
own physical strength and your constitution. I think 
I can get you out ; but if you ever stand on your 
feet again, my boy, never touch a drop of liquor, 
for if you do you will have all this come back again, 
and you need not send for me, for you are a dead 
man.' The young man was a clever young fellow — 
smart, as we say. He looked up and said : c Doctor, 
you say I have to suffer. What do you know about 



306 THE TRUE PATH. 

it? What do you know, about it ? Suffer! I sup- 
pose you could tell people how you take a man's leg 
off; but could you tell how the man felt when the 
saw touched the marrow ? Doctor, if you can prove 
to me that there is no physical suffering in hell, I 
will cut my throat. Doctor, I have had great spiders 
draw their soft bodies with hairy legs all over my 
face and in nvv mouth. I have had green flies buzz 
in my ears, crawl — ah, ah, ah, they are coming now/ 
and in less than two minutes two men were holding 
him, in convulsions. Ten days and ten nights he 
suffered — I was going to say the torments of the 
damned — and when he got on his feet — the third day 
he was on his feet — he went into a saloon and said ; 
'Look here, give me a little brandy, just a little, 
because I need it;' and he gave it to him. 'Now,' 
said that father, 'that boy is dying in such awful 
agony that his friends can not look upon him.' Can 
you imagine a power stronger than that? When a 
man undertakes to break that habit, I tell you he 
has a work before him. 

11 Did you ever see a man fighting drink? Great 
beads of sweat on his forehead, tears rolling down 
his cheeks, blood trickling from his head where he 
has bitten his lips in the agony of fighting against 
the desire that cries through every nerve of his 
system. Gentlemen, no man who has not experi- 
enced the power of that appetite can form 'any con- 
ception of it. My whole heart's, sympathy goes out 
to the struggling man fighting this desire for drink. 
Now, in our treatment of the drunkard we are very 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 307 

much in the habit of treating him as if he were a 
reckless fellow that did not care what became of him. 
Did any man ever apostrophize drink, and holding 
the glass of liquor in his hand say : ' Here I stand in 
vigorous health, fine physical development, in ambi- 
tion ; I have a mother and sisters that cling to me 
with loving affection ; I am respectable and respected ; 
I look into the future with confidence ; my ambition 
is high and my hopes are bright. Now with this I 
will ruin my health ; with this I will blast my pros- 
pects ; with this I will stain my reputation ; with this 
I will destroy my manliness ; with this I will break 
my mother's heart ; with this I will bring disgrace 
upon all who love me ; with this I will burn out the 
last principle of violated truth, and a poor, half putri- 
fied carcass, men shall sweep me away as with the 
pitiful leavings of the dram-shop, and in after years 
I shall be spoken of with bated breath. I will take 
my first step toward that consummation in taking this, 
my first glass.' Was there ever such a consummate 
fool ? and yet men are doing it — doing it in Boston, 
doing it everywhere — with more horror to themselves 
than the mind of man can conceive. 

"Now the drunkard is the victim of the custom of 
society. What is drunkenness, I ask you to-night ? 
in our acceptation of the term — I am not speaking of 
God's view of it ; we will come to that presently. In 
our acceptation of the term, What is drunkenness ? 
The inability of man to stand drink. You can not 
judge of a man's drunkenness by the quantity he 
drinks, but by the effect that quantity has on his 



308 THE TEUE PATH. 

nervous system. A man once said to me: 'I hate 
excess ; a man that drinks to excess is a beast.' I 
said : ' Then I hope you are with us.' He said : ' No ; 
I hate total abstainers. The total abstainer is cow- 
ardly, and the man who drinks to excess is beastly. 
I stand on the manly principle of moderation, self- 
denial, self-control, and I say to young men, Follow 
my example, and by the exercise of these qualities 
you will show your manliness; exercise your self- 
denial and self control, use liquor in moderation, and 
don't made a fool of yourself.' Then we hear every- 
where, only coming to us sometimes in different 
shapes. I say to such a man, what is excess ? 
1 Drinking too much.' "What is drinking too much? 
'Drinking to excess.' I know it is, but I will ask 
you a plain question: Would six tumblerfuls of 
todd}' in a day be excess for you ? c For me ? Six ? 
In a day? Well, no. I think I could stand it.' 
There is the point. Now, according to that man's 
theory, if a man drinks as much as he can hold, and 
stands it, that man is developing, isn't he ? [Laugh- 
ter.] If he drinks two quarts of whiskey in a day 
and stands it, there is a sign of self-denial and self- 
control and self-government in the moderate use of 
intoxicating liquor ; if he drinks a glass and does not 
stand it, that must be a sign of the utter want of self- 
denial and self-control in the excessive use of it. 
What is moderation and what is excess? In our 
estimation of it — because our estimation of drunken- 
ness, when we come to look at what Q-od says about 
it, is a very low estimation of its iniquity — we do 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 309 

not think much of people who get intoxicated — once 
in a while. Did yon ever hear a man say : ' Don't 
call me a thief; I will knock any man down that 
calls me a thief ; I know I steal occasionally, but I 
am not a thief!' Did you ever hear a man say: 
1 Don't call me a liar ; I know I lie once in a while, 
but I am not a liar!' Then a man says: 'I am no 
drunkard ; I get tight once in a while ; I have been 
tight at musters and at military suppers : but I am 
no drunkard.' ~Now if a man lies once, he is a liar ; 
if he steals once, he is a thief; and you do not call a 
man a drunkard till he gets drunk about two-thirds 
of his time. Simple intoxication is so common that 
we almost make sport of it. I heard some ladies 
once in a car talking very loudly, and one of them 
said : ' Oh, it was perfectly splendid ; I never laughed 
so much in my life. We went to sleigh ride, and 
were going to have a dance and supper at the hotel, 
and some of those young men went to the bar, and I 
never saw them get so drunk, and I laughed so, he, 
he ! When we were ready to dance, some of those 
young men were in such a state that they could not 
dance with their partners, and they were in such a 
state ! What do you think ! When we were all 
ready to go home and the sleigh drove up, the land- 
lord put some of those young men to bed, and I 
laughed so ! The next morning it was perfectly 
splendid, I never laughed so much in all my life.' 
Now here were a number of young men so drunk 
that they could not go home and could not dance 
14* 



310 THE TRUE PATH. 

with their partners, and it is matter for laughter and 
is such fun. 

"In a certain town in Connecticut a man came into 
his house drunk. He had a little boy three and a 
half or four years of age, and he came forward to 
meet him with both of his arms extended. Had the 
father been sober, the boy would have been nestling 
in his father's bosom, but he was drunk; he seized 
that boy by the shoulder, lifted him over his head, 
and dashed him right through the second story win- 
dow. Sash and glass and all went out, and on the 
paving, among the mire and bits of broken glass, lay 
a child with both thighs fractured. There is another 
phase of the fact that you laugh at, and that is, that 
when a man is drunk he don't know what he is about, 
and whether a man laughs or cries, shudders or 
chuckles, whether a man holds his sides with merri- 
ment or the marrow in his bones stands stone cold, 
drunkenness is debasing, degrading, imbruting, blast- 
ing, and scathing to everything that is bright and 
noble and manly and Godlike in a human being, 
whether you laugh or cry. [Applause.] 

" Now a great many people say that a man who 
would throw his child out of the window is a brute. 
Ah, my friends, it is very easy to call men brutes. I 
worked for thirty-five years among the drunkards, 
among criminals, and never found a brute among them 
yet, never. Dickens has said somewhere in one of his 
w r orks ; ' Mrs. Toggers was a hard woman, yet in her 
heart, away up a great many pairs of stairs, in a re- 
mote corner was a door, and on that door was written 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 311 

WbMAN.' So, on the heart of the biggest drunkard 
in Boston, away up a great many pair of stairs, in a 
remote corner, easily passed by and covered over 
with cobwebs, is a door ; find that, and that is our 
business, and knock ; no response ! What then ? 
Knock on, persevere; remember, Christian men and 
women, remember Him who stood at the door of your 
heart till His locks were wet with dew, and remem- 
ber that this is a brother man, and knock on, and by 
and by the quivering lip and the starting tear will 
tell that you have been knocking at the heart of a 
man, not the heart of a brute. I have often found in 
my experience that just as quick as a man adopts 
the principle of total abstinence, it seems to open the 
flood-gates of feeling that have been pent up for so 
many years, or turned almost, I was going to say, 
from tenderness into bitterness. I remember one 
little fact. A man said to me : ' The queerest thing 
that ever happened to me in my life, was when I put 
my name on the temperance pledge. I was a pretty 
hard case, my wife used to be afraid of me, and my 
children used to run away with fear when I came in 
the house ; it was but a word and a blow, and then a 
kick, and the minute I put my name on that temper- 
ance pledge, the thought came across my mind, I 
wonder what my wife will say to this ? Queer, wasn't 
it ? The first thing I should think of was my wife. 
But I went home, and I made up mind that I would 
tell her all about it. Then I thought if I went in 
and told her all of a hurry it might make her faint or 
something or another of that kind. Queer, wasn't it ? 



312 THE TRUE PATH. 

Another time I would have went home and knocked 
her down and kicked her up again. Now I was going 
home thinking how I could break it to my wife and 
not hurt her ! So I made up my mind I would break 
it to her easy, and I got to the door ; she didn't faint 
away ; I saw her leaning over the embers of the fire ; 
she didn't look up ; I suppose she expected a blow or 
a curse as usual, and I said, ' Mary.' She didn't 
turn ; I said, 'Mary.' ' Well, Dick, what is it?' I 
said, ' Mary.' ' Well, what is it ?' ' Can not you 
guess, Mary?' And she looked round at me, her 
face was so white. ' I say, Mary.' ' Well ?' ' 1 
have been to the meeting, and put. my name down on 
the pledge, and taken my oath I never will take 
another drop.' She was on her feet in a minute. She 
didn't faint away, poor soul ; and as I held her I 
didn't know but she was dead, and I began to cry, 
and she was not dead ; she opened her eyes, and got 
her arms right round my neck, and pulled me down 
on my knees, the first time I remember ever going 
on my knees since I was a boy, and said, ' Oh, God, 
bless my poor husband,' and I said, ' Amen.' And 
she said, ' Help him to keep that pledge,' and I said, 
* Amen,' and she kept on praying, and I kept on hal- 
looing, and you never heard a Methodist halloa like 
me, until I could not speak a word I was so hoarse. 
It was the first time we ever knelt together, but it 
was not the last.' I could give you scores of just 
such cases. I spoke once to an audience of outcasts. 
It is an awful sight to see. There were two persons 
came up to sign the pledge. You never saw such a 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 313 

couple ; I could not describe them — indescribable ; 
the woman's dress — dress! She had some ragged 
ribbons tied round her waist with a bit of rope, and 
above her waist nothing but an old shawl, that was 
twisted round like a rope, brought across her shoul- 
ders, fastened like a Scotch hat at her side, dirty, 
brazen-faced, hair all down, her eye as cold as a piece 
of gray granite ; her husband looked as if the drink 
had scorched up his intellect, and he looked more 
like an idiot than anything else, but they signed the 
pledge, at least they made their mark, and the secre- 
tary was making out beautiful embossed cards ; the 
' man said : ' I want to get one of them certificates.' 
She gave him a nudge, ' There is sixpence to pay for 
them.' ' I want one of them certificates to show that 
I belong to the society.' There was every evidence of a 
family jar going on between them. A gentleman 
came in and said : 4 Good people are you going to 
sign the temperance pledge?' ' I have signed it, sir ; 
me and my missus, and that is my missus, and we 
have signed, and I want to join the society and get a 
certificate.' ' Why don't you?' • There is sixpence to 
pay.' 'Oh, that shall make no difference,' and turn- 
ing to the secretary the gentleman said : ' Here is a 
shilling, make out the certificates.' The woman 
looked as hard as ever, the certificates were about to 
be made out, and the man was asked his name, and 
gave it, and got his certificate, and then they asked 
the woman her name ; she clenched her fists and 
looked straight before her. ' Madam, your name ; 
we are waiting for you, if you please ; we would 



314 THE TRUE PATH. 

like you to have the number next to your husband's.' 
Her husband offered to give her name. l No, no, we 
want it from the woman herself. Madam, we are 
waiting for you ; and at last she lifted up her clenched 
fists ; I thought it was to strike somebody, but it was 
to brush away a tear, and then came another, and 
another ; then she put her hands to her face and the 
tears ran down the back of her hands, and then she 
suddenly looked round and unfastening that shawl, 
she shook it out and spread it over her back and held 
it with both hands across her bosom. Not one word 
of kindness had stirred- the white ashes that covered 
the last spark of woman, and she stood crying like a 
child. I tell }^ou when a man or woman takes a 
turn to go right, the very act of turning to go right 
softens the heart and opens it to good impressions. 
[Applause.] 

" Now I want to speak more particularly for a few 
minutes to those who have suffered, and if there are 
any here who are suffering from the effects of drink, 
you know as well as I can tell you the power of the 
appetite, you know what it is to break it off, you 
know the awful struggle that there is, and I have 
heard a great many men say, since Mr. Moody has 
been preaching here and in Chicago and in New York 
and in Philadelphia, that if the drunkards become 
Christians they can reform from the drink. A great 
many men have sa^d to me : 'I can reform without 
becoming a Christian.' I am not one of those who 
will say to you that you cannot quit drink unless you 
become a Christian, but I say this, within my expe- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 315 

rience, that nine out of ten who try it fail. There are 
men who have abstained from drink all their lives 
who have been afterward drunkards and have died 
with no belief in the power of the grace of God. I 
will give you an illustration of what I mean. A gen- 
tleman that I know married into an excellent family 
(and he says I may tell the story and give his name 
at any time) and got so far abased that he could drink 
a quart of brandy a day ; how he stood it no one 
knows; a man of a strong constitution, splendid phy- 
sique, but he drank his quart a day ; a good business 
man,' and his associates were very much distressed 
about him. He had a lovely wife and three boys, 
and one day he was in the house and he said to his 
wife: 'Come, my dear, and sit on my knee.' She 
came and sat, and then she said : ' If my husband 
didn't drink I would be the happiest woman in Canada.' 
' Well,' he said, ' my dear, I married you to make you 
happy, and I ought to do everything I can to make 
you happy ; and if that will make you happy I will 
never drink another drop as long as I live.' That 
was seven years. ago, and he has never tasted a drop 
from that day to this. He cut it off just as clean as 
you would cut off a piece of cheese. That man had 
a mighty will ; but I want to tell you something else. 
Walking with him up Young street one day last win- 
ter, he said : ' You see that red saloon. I have gone 
two blocks out of my way many a time to keep out 
of the way of that. When I come in sight of it, and 
begin to feel queer, I turn right down Front street ; 
but since I have got the grace of God in my heart, I 



316 THE TRUE PATH. 

can go right by that place, and if I find the slightest 
inclination to enter, I can ejaculate the prayer, God 
help me, and I go right along.' The first was a risk ; 
the second was absolute security and safety. [Ap- 
plause.] It will not do for us to say a man cannot 
quit drink unless he becomes a Christian ; but he is 
running a risk every day of his life, and nine out of 
ten, if not nineteen out of twenty, fail. 

" I want to lead men to this point. If you will re- 
form, exercise all the power that you have left — all 
the energy that you have, and trust in God, and it is 
a sure thing, sure. In Ohio I went into a car, and 
there was only one vacant seat, and I asked a gentle- 
man if I could occupy it. He said: 'Yes, Mr. 
Go ugh, I will be very glad to have you.' ' Thank 
you, sir, for your courtesy.' He said: 'I heard you 
speak last night, and I went home to my wife and 
told her I would never drink any more liquor. I 
never made a promise like that before. I am a man 
of my word, and she knew I meant it, and I supposed 
she would be tickled about it and pleased, but instead 
of that she looked at me in a half wild sort of a way, 
and burst out crying, and then went down on her 
knees. I am not one of that sort ; don't believe I 
have been down on my knees since I was eight years 
old. As for church, I don't know what the inside of 
it looks like. When I saw her down on her knees I 
didn't like it, and said : ' What in thunder are you 
on your knees for, can not you hear? ' I went to 
bed sulky, and when I got up in the morning I wanted 
whiskey and nothing else. I tried to eat some break- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 317 

fast ; the more I chewed it the bigger it grew ; I could 
not swallow it ; nothing could I take but whiskey ; I 
must have some whiskey. I am a man of some prop- 
erty, and I am going now to see a piece of property 
which I bought when I was drunk. I am going 
among friends and among temptation, and I would 
rather be carried home dead to-night than carried 
home drunk. I am a man of my word, and I never 
broke my word to man or woman, and I am proud 
of the fact.' We went on a little while anu his eyes 
began to fill with tears. He said : ' Mr. Gough, you 
may think it very strange of me, but I have been 
on my knees myself this morning for over an hour.' 
4 Have you ?' ' Yes. I have ; the first time in my life 
that I can remember since I was a little boy.' I said : 
4 My friend, keep there and you will go home sober 
to-night.' I tell you, they may make as much sport 
of prayer as they please, and say that it is abomina- 
ble nonsense to talk about prayer-gauges and such 
stuff, but do you believe a man ever drank a glass 
of liquor while he was praying to God to keep him 
from it ? "No. Then there is a philosophy in prayer, 
if nothing else. Let a man keep in the attitude of 
prayer and then he is in the attitude of resistance to 
drink. fApplause.] 

" Then there is another point I wish to speak upon, 
and for my life I would not conflict in any way with 
anything that Mr. Moody has said. I think he and I 
believe the same thing, only there are two ways of 
putting it. We have been told — I don't know that 
the leaders of these meetings have said it — that if a 



318 THE TRUE PATH. 

man gets the grace of God in his heart, it takes away 
his appetite. I am not one of those that would speak 
slightingly of the wonderful, illimitable, infinite power 
of the grace of God, but while one man may have 
that appetite taken away from him by God's grace 
and Spirit, there is another man who may have that 
appetite left in him to try him. When Paul prayed 
that the thorn might be removed out of his flesh, his 
prayer was only answered by ' My grace is sufficient 
for thee/ I know there are men that are good Chris- 
tian men that are struggling and fighting to-day against 
this appetite. A minister of the Gospel writes me: 
'I was deposed by my church for drunkenness; some 
of them had confidence in me and they gathered to- 
gether and formed a little church, and we worshipped 
in a hall ; I preached for them six or eight weeks ; I 
then came down to Boston to buy hymn-books ; I 
met with a friend who asked me to dine, and I drank 
a glass of wine, and for three days I knew nothing, 
and now I am ruined for time, and I fear for eternity.' 
I have a letter from a minister of the Gospel who 
says this : 

11 ' My grandfather died of delirium tremens, my 
mother died a drunkard ; I have inherited'an appetite 
for liquor. When I went into the ministry I sought 
the hardest work I could get, and went as a Home 
Missionary; I am now broken down; I have covered 
my whole life with prayer as with a garment; I have 
spent hundreds of dollars at water-cure establishments 
to wash this devil out of me; I have gone without 
animal food for two years, yet I tremble every day 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 319 

on the awful verge of the precipice of indulgence.' 
Now mark me. I don't say that the grace of God can 
not take away every particle of that appetite, as the 
infinite power of God can cure every disease, but what 
I want is this : that no man shall go away from these 
meetings filled with the new sensation that comes 
to a changed man ; when the battle face to face 
comes, he is away from such influences as these, and 
says: 'I have the grace of God in my heart; I have 
no appetite now.' But let one of these men who 
have been drunkards and who "have abstained for ten 
years, take one glass, and see if he hasn't got the ap- 
petite there. Like the slumbering fire of a volcano, 
that one glass will rise into fury, drenching, perhaps, 
body and soul in the lava of drunkenness. Now, then, 
if I have any grace in my heart — I know that that has 
been taught in this Tabernacle — if I have any grace 
in my heart it prompts me to pray, l Lead me not 
into temptation ;' I have His word for it I shall never 
be tempted more than I am able to bear, for there is 
a way of escape for me from every temptation, but if 
I have such views of the grace of God that will induce 
me to say, 'I have so much grace that I can now walk 
into the temptation and that grace will save me from 
falling,' it is very doubtful to me whether such a man 
has the true idea of the grace of God. Therefore, I 
say to reformed men, Christian men, your hope is in 
Jesus to keep yourselves unspotted. Touch not, 
taste not, handle not, meddle not with it. Men may 
say to me : ' Have you this appetite ?' I don't know, 
and there is only one way in which I can test it, and 



320 THE TRUE PATH. 

my daily prayer is : ' G-pd help me to avoid the test. 
I can only know whether I have it by testing it, so I 
shall die in blissful ignorance of the fact. But al- 
though it is thirty-five years since I signed the pledge, 
I will not put to my lips intoxicating wine at the 
communion table. I have not and I never will. 
[Applause.] I have known cases of fearful falling 
from the first swallow, because drunkenness is a dis- 
ease, and a good Christian man said to me to-day 
only : ' Three weeks ago I had the most awful strug- 
gle against my appetite,' and a gentleman said to me, 
holding me by the hand, the other night : 'God bless 
you, Mr. Gough, I am fighting an awful hard battle.' 
I said : 'Do you feel secure ?' l Secure in Jesus, Mr. 
Gough.' Oh, I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that is 
the strength of the movement to-day. From one 
end of the land to the other do we hear of Christian 
temperance associations. Oh, if in the Washing- 
tonian days men bad been as wise as God has helped 
them to be now, what a wonderful revolution would 
have been effected then ! It was a great tidal wave 
that rose all over the land, but there was an ignoring 
of Christ, there was nothing to do with religion, 
nothing to do with praying. I used to go to places 
to speak, and they would say: 'Mr. Gough, we have 
got a lot of reformed men here, and must not have 
any politics or religion talked.' It was so all over the 
country. And what was the result ? Washington- 
ianism has utterly failed to gather into the harvest 
those who might have been saved if it had not 
been for the repudiation of everything, savoring of 



GOSPEL TEMPEEANCE. 321 

religion and Christianity. Now, to-day, beside these 
grand principles, we look into the future and see the 
light which stands tip-toe upon the mountain-top 
that shall usher in the day of triumph by and by. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, I shall detain you but a 
minute or two longer. Some of us remember when 
we fought a hard battle for temperance ; some of us 
remember the riots in Faneuil Hall, when the liquor- 
sellers declared that we should not occupy that plat- 
form, and for three successive nights they beat us off, 
put their own chairman in the meeting; we remem- 
ber very well when it was a reproach to be a temper- 
ance man, and temperance men were persecuted. 
Now it seems as if — I was going to say it was becom- 
ing popular, but I don't like that word popular. I 
believe the principle is becoming universal from 
Maine to Louisiana, and from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific slope, and it is because it was begun in prayer, 
and it will end in thanksgiving. [Applause.] The 
women of Pittsburg before Christmas met together 
for prayer ; it was the outcropping of the women's 
crusade movement ; thatp phase of it has passed away, 
but the foundation of the movement was prayer, and 
they continued praying even when they gave up the 
saloon visiting, and what is the consequence ? From 
60,000 to 70,000 in Pittsburg and Allegheny City alone, 
the past three months, have signed the pledge I It is 
in Cleveland, in Omaha, in all the West, away down 
in Maine, it is reaching to San Francisco, it is every- 
. where, and Christian men and women are being raised 
up to do battle against this fearful enemy, Breth- 



322 THE TRUE PATH. 

ren, we are working against an awful foe, and it needs 
all our strength and shrewdness and all the power we 
have for the fight. When we put our instrumentali- 
ties and our agencies forth, let us cry to God to help 
us for His own name's sake, and to make these agen- 
cies, so feeble, successful. - By and by we shall stand 
in the circle unharmed and saved, and the fire shall 
rage harmlessly around us while we give the glory of 
our salvation to Him that sitteth upon the throne 
and unto the Lamb forever. 

" May you and I meet in that land where the song 
shall be, 4 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain from 
the foundation of the world,' is my sincere and 
heartfelt prayer ; and I thank you very gratefully for 
your patience and courtesy to me to-night." [Pro- 
longed applause]. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 323 

PART IV-IMPORTANT FACTS, 
INCIDENTS AND EXPERIENCES 

OF 

REFORMED MEN. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

STORMING THE DEVIL'S DEN. — FRANK MURPHY IN 
RAMCAT ALLEY. — MARRIAGE. — DISPATCH. 

In evidence of the unselfishness and extensive- 
ness of Mr. Murphy's efforts for the amelioration of 
the condition of his fellow-man, as well as on account 
of its pecular character, we give place to the follow- 
ing from the Daily Express of Philadelphia : 

" Midnight witnessed an impressive scene. Frank 
Murphy, escorted by Sergeant Pearson and a couple 
of police officers, and accompanied by a full delegation 
of newspaper men, was standing in the garret of the 
tenement house on Ramcat alley and St. Mary street. 
Lying on the floor (some in a nude condition) and 
standing around him were colored and white women. 
Some of the latter hid their faces in their hands, 
while others welcomed the visitors. 



324 THE TRUE PATH. 

" ' I am married, and my name is Mrs. Annie How- 
ard/ said a fair-haired woman, with a soft voice. 'I 
have seen better days, and I still trust in the Al- 
mighty. I love my husband, and he is good to me.' 

" Some of the rooms were even wretched, and the 
inmates sullen and constrained, while in others Mr. 
Murphy was greeted with great cordiality. 

" The ' bosses ' of the rooms paid a rental of $4.50 
to $7 per month. They sub-let them to several families. 
Some were occupied by eight or ten persons. The 
atmosphere was so close and foetid that several of the 
visitors were forced to seek the fresh air of the street. 

" ' These properties are owned by a wealthy retired 
Market street merchant,' said the sergeant. ' He is 
now in Europe living on the proceeds. The agent is 
a Mr. Dunlap, and the rental of the two buildings 
amounts to $2,100 a year.' 

A MARKIAGE ARRANGED. 

"In one of the rooms Mr. Murphy was most cor- 
dially received by two fine-looking black men, both 
of whom had signed the pledge. One of them (John 
Folk) was a banjo player. He had lamed his foot in 
the army. 

" ' Are you married to Ellen V asked Mr. Murphy, 
pointing to a woman who was lying on the floor with 
her face closely covered up. 

" ' Well, I'm married in a certain way; I ain't in 
the regular way, because I ain't got the money to 
pay for a minister. It's all I can do to raise money 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 325 

enough to eat ; and I give folks I know a rest here in 
the room rather than let them stay on the streets. 
They can't pay because they've got nothing.' 

" ' Well, will you marry her if I pay the minister?' 

" ' Oh, yes,' he cried, candidly. ' That is if she 
says so ; I love her well enough.' 

" l Will you consent, Ellen ?' 

" ' Yes, I'd like to very much,' she replied as she 
threw the bedclothes off her face, .and accepted Mr. 
Murphy's extended hand. 

" ' Then, come up to the Annex building on next 
Sunday morning and we'll have a marriage ; I'll pay 
the minister/ said Mr. Murphy. 

" John took down his banjo and played ' Down the 
Swanee River,' while Mr. Murphy's son, who accom- 
panied him, passed around the hat and a dollar was 
collected for the player. 

" This put John in great glee, and he sang ' Yaller 
Girl Picking Cotton.' 

AMONG THE BARREL HOUSES. 

" It was almost too late an hour for the visit, but 
Mr. Murphy had been detained from starting out at 
half-past ten o'clock, as had been arranged. Many 
of the barrel houses were closed, but Mr. Murphy 
visited those that were open, and was everywhere re- 
ceived with respect. Many said they had heard him 
speak, and all appeared to have a cordial welcome for 
him. 

" The reporter left them still climbing the rickety 
15 



326 THE TRUE PATH. 

stairs at one o'clock this morning. It was surprising 
to see so few drunken persons. 

" 'I guess they must have known Murphy was com- 
ing and kept on their good behavior,' observed an 
officer. 

" ' How can a man stand over a range all day with- 
out taking a drop of porter now and then?' asked 
one respectable colored man who had been a sailor. 

" ■ Take coffee instead,' replied Mr. Murphy. ' Its 
like a steamboat. If you pile on grease and oil you 
will kindle a hot fire, but it soon wants replenishing ; 
but put in good coal and you have a solid fire. So it 
is with coffee and bread. It's substantial, while the 
porter and gin give nourishment for only a time.' 

11 ' Dat's de G-od's truf,' exclaimed John Green, the 
ex-sailor ; 'I guess I'll have to try it. Anyhow I'll 
be up to your Sunday breakfast, Mr. Murphy.' 

SPECIAL DISPATCH. 

11 Thursday, 3 o'clock, a. m. — Francis Murphy and 
party have just returned from their excursion to 
Hell's Half-acre. If any man is hard-worked in the 
Lord's service, it is Temperance Murphy." 



FLOWERS. 



These beautiful little objects in nature have had 
their share of attention in the work of Francis Mur- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 327 

phy. He is not only given to pretty little button- 
hole bouquets, but they do not appear at all amiss, or 
show anything like a strained association, when 
pinned upon his coat and in close proximity to his 
genial face. 

Some of the best of his converts have been caught 
by them, thus proving Mr. Murphy's claims for con- 
stant little acts of kindness toward the fallen. 

One of these we will here make mention of. At 
the Philadelphia Tabernacle, on the evening of May 
31st, 1877, a Mr. McMullan, who had just signed the 
pledge, said that he had been brought to the step 
through the presentation of a flower by Mr. Murphy. 
He then promised to be present in the evening and 
sign the pledge. He had redeemed that promise. 

Another instance, is that of William J. Jones, Esq. 
He was encountered while intoxicated, by Mr. Mur- 
phy, upon the public streets. The lecturer stepped 
up to him, and taking the little bouquet from his 
breast put it upon that of the inebriate. The effect 
was to induce the well-known " Deacon " to attend 
Mr. Murphy's meeting and sign. In regard to this' 
case, we will add, there are few men in this city or 
State better known than " Deacon " Jones, as he is 
familiarly called. He has for many years been con- 
nected with the press. At one time he held an hon- 
orable position, but, from a too great indulgence in 
intoxicating liquors, his power and influence as a 
writer became gradually weakened. A man of 
ability, had he abstained from the intoxicating bowl, 
he would to day have occupied a high place, com- 



328 THE TRUE PATH. 

manding the respect of the people, while peace and 
plenty, happiness and contentment would have been 
his. Faithful to his pledge, he will soon take the 
position which is fitted for him and become a most 
useful citizen. For years the efforts of his pen have 
been made under the influence of liquor, and most 
grievously against himself. This reformation may 
prove a monument to the power of Francis Murphy. 



One of the noblest instances of faithfulness and de- 
votion in the present temperance struggle, is found 
in the able and affable Secretary of the National 
Christian Temperance Union, Mr. John L. Linton. 
He had acquired wealth and influence through his 
superior skill and intelligence in business, and not 
long since erected a very elegant home, at a delight- 
ful spot, on the banks of the Delaware, not far from 
Philadelphia. Having inherited a hospitable and 
genial nature, he prepared for the generous entertain- 
ment of his friends, and had built in his home a wine- 
cellar, costing in the neighborhood of $10,000. That 
we may furnish the fact intended in these remarks, 
as briefly as possible, we will use the words of Mr. 
L., and say that " It was the wine-cellar that* caused 
the loss of the entire home, and the temporary ruin 
of its builder and owner." To-day Mr. Linton is an 
active, well-known, efficient temperance man ; is high 
up in the scale, among those who have found refuge 
in reform ; and holds also an honorable place among 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 329 

the most active of the philanthropic men in the front 
rank of Murphyism. He has, through many months, 
given his entire time, and freely of his money — of 
which he has yet a share — for the success of the Re- 
form Movement; and has been instant, in season, and 
out of season, in individual sacrifices, refusing all com- 
pensation therefor. Such men cannot be kept back ; 
and we predict for him something of a palatial char- 
acter, both here and hereafter, minus the wine-cellar. 



" THE FLOGGERS FLOGGED.' 

In the State of Wisconsin a great work has been 
inaugurated by Rev. G. S. Allen, of Colorada. Hav- 
ing begun the campaign in the State Prison, in which 
275 out of 350 convicts signed the Murphy pledge, 
and donned the " badge of blue," the work spread 
quickly, until a large portion of the State yielded to 
its influence. From professional men of celebrity, 
down to noted bruisers, every grade and condition 
were soon in the embrace of the now distinguished 
goddess Reform. An incident, of some interest in 
the work, is furnished us in an uprising at Sheboygan 
Falls. There, a few years ago, a Methodist Minister 
was fearfully beaten, by a mob, for having dared to 
speak from the pulpit against intemperance. In this 
movement a great meeting was held in the city, and 
the most signal of all successes was the result. The 
"floggers" themselves were flogged, as has been re- 



330 THE THUE PATH. 

marked, and a new condition presented. Bankers 
merchants, business men, mechanics, working-men, 
and tavern loungers, were dredged in promiscuously, 
until the place was so cleaned that an opponent of 
temperance would have perhaps met with the fate of 
the Methodist Minister referred to, had he essayed a 
speech. 



RESULTS OF THE MURPHY MOVEMENT. 

The following paragraphs are from an Evening 
Daily of the Quaker City: 

" Pen cannot fully portray the glorious results ac- 
complished by Mr. Francis Murphy in the temper- 
ance movement inaugurated by him ; but now and 
again, some of them come prominently to notice, and 
are deserving of more than ordinary commendation. 
Amongst the latter, we would now refer to the prac- 
tical efforts put forth by Mr. Charles P. Hower, busi- 
ness manager of the Merchants' Advertising Com- 
pany. 

" Although quite a young man, his devotion to the 
cause of temperance has been so earnest and stead- 
fast, that he deserves a statue of gold erected to him. 
Nowhere in history can be found a similar case, 
where one so humble and modest, in so short a space 
of time (less than three months) secured employment 
for over one hundred men who had signed the pledge. 
This is practical Christianity, and indicates genuine 
philanthropy, and the spirit of a public benefactor. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 331 

u In this single instance, what benefits have result- 
ed from Mr. Murphy's labors in this city? God has 
showered upon him his richest blessings, and we sin- 
cerely trust that there will be no cessation in the 
labors of all interested in the cause of fallen human- 
ity, until our city, State and Nation have become the 
citadels of temperance.'' 



"the hardest drinker. 

The manner in which the Murphy men are con- 
ducting their onslaught, against the greatest of evils, 
will be seen in the following sentences from a speaker 
at a meeting in the West : 

" Mr. Raper, being called for, said, he had been at 
Versailles to hold a meeting in the interest of tem- 
perance, lately. He inquired of a minister, 'Who is 
the hardest drinker in the place ?' He was answered : 
1 He lives two miles from here.' They procured a 
conveyance and went to see him. The man was 
greatly surprised when told that they wanted him to 
come to the meeting and sign the pledge. He was 
prevailed on, and did come, and did sign the pledge. 
Since then he learned that that man and others whom 
he influenced had been converted and become Chris- 
tians." 



"MR. MURPHY'S POCKET-BOOK CONVERTED." 

" At a,recent meeting,. in the Iron City, several men 
testified to the value and sincerity of the great Apos- 



332 ' THE TRUE PATH. 

tie's labors. Captain Sturdivant gave a brief history 
of the life and conversion of Mr. Murphy, and bore 
the highest testimony to his character and liberality. 
The people need not be afraid of Mr.' Murphy becom- 
ing rich. His pocket-book was converted along with 
his head and heart. Mr. Swartzwalder spoke in high 
terms of Mr. Murphy's love for the fallen and of the 
great happiness he had brought to thousands of once 
happy homes." 



"success by the law of love." 

At a meeting in the Queen City of the West, Mr. 
Best of Pittsburg, said : " He didn't intend to make a 
speech, for he thought if he should he would fail. 
He signed the pledge in Pittsburg, and had kept it 
inviolate. Although it was a hard task, he under- 
took it, God being his helper ; and he knew that 
with that help and the sympathy of good men, those 
who sign the pledge can and will succeed. 

11 It is not only the redemption of the drunkard we 
labor for — there is the poor mother's heart to be 
made glad, the poor weeping wife's tears to be dried, 
the little children to be lifted up. His own four little 
children had suffered enough, through his intemper- 
ance, to have killed them. There is one law that 
makes men better, and that is God's law of love. 
Human legislation has failed in this matter, -but this 
law of love will succeed." 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 333 



MURPHY AND THE " FIRE SHARPS." 

A recent visit to some of the fire houses, in Phila- 
delphia, led Mr. Murphy to a new idea. " Why does 
such a man as you drink ?" he asked of a fine, stal- 
wart " laddie," whose face bore slight indications of 
recent dissipation. 

" Well, you see," was the reply, " we must have 
some stimulant when we are soaking wet at a fire, 
after being up all night, and that keeps up the ap- 
petite." 

" Wouldn't a good cup of coffee and a sandwich 
do as well, if not much better ?" 

"Yes," was the laughing response of all hands. 
" But how in the world are we to get the coffee and 
sandwiches at midnight or daybreak, when buildings 
are threatened on all sides ?" " You should be 
served by the authorities. Come up to the meetings 
and sign the pledge in a body, and I will endeavor 
to create an interest in the public mind so that you 
will be supplied with, a good cup of coffee and plenty 
of sandwiches, as you are holding the pipe or passing 
on the water." 

" Go ahead," was the response. " We are with 
you." 



' REFORMERS RECOGNIZED/ 



At a western meeting, Mr. Hall told " of an excur- 
sion of a fire company to Sandusky, a few years ago. 
15* 



334 THE TRUE PATH, 

Every man of the fire company left Pittsburg drunk, 
remained drunk while in Sandusky, returned home 
drunk, and some of them kept drunk for several 
weeks after they got home. He was one of the com- 
pany. After Mr, Murphy had taken him up, and set 
him to talking, an invitation came from Sandusky 
for workers. He and a Mr. Hill were detailed to go 
there. He went reluctantly. On their arrival they 
were recognized ; and, the result was, the citizens 
stood aloof from them for about ten days. But when 
the people saw that they behaved themselves, they 
began to visit their meetings, and before they left, 
2,500 persons had signed the pledge ; and at an elec- 
tion since, a Murphy man was elected Mayor of the 
city." 



" a mother's love." 

A temperance worker recently spoke as follows, 
at a Cincinnati meeting : 

" The good book says, ' Can a mother forget her 
sucking child ?' He told of scenes he had witnessed 
in which women do forget their sucking children. 
Can they do it ? Yes, they can, and they do. Dr. 
Guthrie, the well known Scotch clergyman, was 
offered a baby by its mother for a glass of whisky. 

" A mother's love ! He illustrated it by a most 
thrilling account of a child carried away by an eagle 
to its eyrie on a mountain crag. Several attempts 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 385 

had been made to scale that crag and save the child, 
but all failed. At last the mother made the attempt 
and succeeded. What nerved her to the effort? A 
mother's love. And jet there are fathers and mothers 
in this city who are bartering away that love for that 
which robs them of everything dear to humanity." 



"SLOW PROGRESS. 

A Mr. Ludlow, of Springfield, Ohio, said, at a 
Murphy meeting, a few weeks since, il He sometimes 
got discouraged, but he remembered that his old class- 
leader had said to him when he was a boy, and felt 
somewhat discouraged at his slow religious progress, 
1 Never mind, lad, you'll get out of the brush by and 
by.' He related many instances of the evil effects of 
using intoxicating liquors, upon men, a long list of 
whose names he could call, who had spent fortunes 
and gone down to drunkard's graves. In Springfield 
they have had but one to fall out of five thousand. 
There is something in this movement that has never 
been in any other. He saw one hundred men in a 
Bible class that had never been in a Sunday-school in 
their lives before." 



336 THE TEUB PATH. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A CHARITABLE GIFT. 

While Captain Cyrus Sturdivant and Mr. R. 0. 
Stevenson were on their way from a Murphy meeting 
in the Quaker city, they accidently met with a woman 
and her drunken husband on the sidewalk, the former 
trying to help her tottering companion along. Im- 
mediately they stepped up, and offered their assis- 
tance, which was accepted by the wearied woman. 
They accompanied the pair to their home, where 
there was every indication of the very impoverishing 
effects of a course of inebriation. In the room, into 
which they were ushered, there was neither a chair 
nor block to sit upon. Then the wife, who seemed to 
be possessed with something of intelligence, narrated 
to these kind-hearted men how she had been reduced, 
through rum, from affluence to penury and want ; 
whereupon Captain Sturdivant gave the woman about 
one-half of the small amount he had with him at the 
time. On the following morning the poor woman 
purchased some beef steak and coffee, and prepared 
herself and husband a comfortable breakfast out of 
the very charitable gift of the previous evening. The 
husband was greatly surprised, at the inviting repast, 
and wanted to know u how she had come by it ?" 
She replied, that * the gentlemen from the temper- 
ance meeting, who had helped him home, had kindly 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 337 

furnished the means for it." He was so overcome 
by the act of generosity, that he determined to attend 
the Tabernacle meeting and sign the pledge. At the 
next opportunity, he gave his name to the reform 
movement, and is now one of the thousands who from 
having lived dissipated lives, are given to soberness 
and industry. 



HOW AN IRISHMAN QUIT SELLING LIQUOR. 

The following incident was narrated by Mr. Mur- 
phy in one of his Tabernacle talks : 

"I was speaking upon the subject of temperance in 
New Brighton, Connecticut. After I got through, a 
lady came upon the platform, and, taking me to one 
side, said : ' I wish you would please come to my 
home.' Well I was delighted to hear the sweet 
musical voice of my countrywoman and I went home 
with her and her beautiful daughter Mary. She said, 
before we reached home, ' I wish you could see 
James, my husband.' 

" He had bought property in New Brighton and it 
had since increased very rapidly in value ; it had 
cost only two thousand dollars and it was now worth 
forty thousand. He was a moulder by trade, and 
came into wealth, and, being possessed of true Irish 
hospitality, he was always ready with a drop of the 
creature. Having arrived at his house, his wife 
called to him, ' Come down, James O'Connor.' James 



338 THE TRUE PATH. 

came down, and I said : c How are you.' He looked 
kindly into my face and said, ' I am all right.' I 
said, 'James, I am afraid you are all wrong.' 
'Never mind,' said he, 'just take a drop.' So he 
went to the pantry and brought out his bottle in 
grand style, ' and now ' said he, ' give us a little 
boiling water and some sugar.' ' If you please,' 
said I, 'I can not touch it.' ' Ah,' said he, 'you're 
the temperance man V ' Yes,' said I. We then 
talked and reasoned togetl^r. During this time, I 
noticed a little mark over the forehead of the mother, 
and she had a welt of her hair brought down to cover 
it. I said : ' Mrs. O'Conner, what happened to your 
face?' She said, 'Don't say anything about that.' 
A countryman of mine sold her husband liquor ; 
there he spent his nights ; and that was the origin of 
the mark. I said to her : ' Will you tell me where 
this countryman lives?' She told me, and I spoke to 
him about it. He was a true Irishman, and he loved 
the family, and he said: 'If it has made James 
O'Conner put that mark on his wife, never shall I 
again sell a drop of intoxicating liquor.' And he 
never did, and he has made a respectable living 
since he quit selling it." 



' RUM KILLED THEM. 



The following affecting incident was also told by 
Mr. Murphy: 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 339 

" A dear countryman came to America in search 
of a fortune. He had a beautiful family, and was a 
stone mason by trade. He had brothers in the city 
of Portland who represented a large amount of wealth, 
and he thought he would go into the liquor traffic. 

"My brother engaged in the business. He had a 
beautiful son whom he took in the business with him ; 
and he had two beautiful girls. He commenced in 
the liquor traffic and he made a large amount of 
money. When his son was twenty years of age he 
had twenty thousand dollars' worth of property. His 
son drank constantly and kept on drinking. Finally, 
at the age of twenty-one, this boy, this darling of his 
life, was taken with the delirium tremens and died ; 
his father was at his side. His dear mother, who had 
been so proud of him, worried and walked up and 
down her home until she sickened and died from a 
broken heart. I was personally acquainted with the 
father. I knew him to be a genuine noble-hearted 
Christian man. But he commenced to drink, and to 
such an excess that his own two brothers had him 
arrested and carried to the county jail. 

" While he was incarcerated I made it my duty to 
visit him. I wish I had the power of a Dickens, 
to describe the man. He was in one of those little 
dark cells, and had nothing on him but his pantaloons, 
his hair was standing up on his head, his hands and 
fingers looked liked the claws of an eagle, they were 
so spare and thin. When he saw me he came to the 
door, and in his sweet loving way he said, ' Ah, Mr. 
Murphy, that's you.' And the tears ran down his 



340 THE TRUE PATH. 

cheeks as he spoke of his darling boy. Poor Willie 
died, whipped into eternity with the scorpions chasing 
him, whilst his father held him. 

"His sister was one of the finest girls in Portland, 
and she, poor Mary, took to drink, and died from the 
effects of intoxicating liquor. I have attended the fu- 
nerals of the father, mother, son and daughter ; and 
I saw them placed side by side in the grave yard. 

" There is no marble slab, to-day, to tell of the last 
resting place of this mother and her children, but if 
the truth could be written over their graves, it would 
be said, ' Rum killed them.' " 



"THE RIGHT-ABOUT-FACE/ 

This valuable incident was furnished by Miss Wil- 
lard, in her farewell address at Boston : 

" I carry many, many sweet memories away from 
Boston of true, kindly girls who clasped my hands 
and said : ' We will try to do all we can to help the 
world along ;' of others, many of older years, who 
have showered blessing upon my head ; of men, kind 
and brave, who have told me 4 Grod bless you;' but 
there is one thing, the sweetest that has come to me 
in Boston. A young man, gentle, cultured, a gradu- 
ate of Harvard University, with everything at his 
feet, everything to be enjoyed ; and yet ' the club- 
room, you know. The Senior's party, you know,' 
comes along so casually that people don't think .any- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 341 

thing about its influences until it ensnares a man. 
Harvard had educated him in all that her cultured 
curriculum could give ; but she had not educated him 
in that belief which will recreate a life and lift one 
up in Christ Jesus. ' To please his young wife/ he 
said, he came to the inquiry meeting — to please her 
because she had been so kind ; he was sorry to say 
he had not always led the life he ought to have led. 
Right there I looked him in the face and said : ( Can 
you, will you hold this belief that you have ? Will 
you take Christ for your Master V 'What? Do 
you ask me that ? Why, I was scoffing at Moody in 
the Tabernacle only last night ; and you ask me to 
put away the whole tide of years and years — the mo- 
mentum of which bears me right along ? Why what 
do you mean ? I came here to please my wife.' ' Yes ; 
but there is but one bell that rings from Genesis to 
Eevelation, and its voice is ' To-day — to-day, if you 
would hear his voice harden not your heart.' Re- 
member, probably this is your last chance — your only 
time. You set that interior faculty, your will, against 
the whole past. God's spirit will help that will, or if 
your will is weak He will do it all for you, if you 
just give up to Him.' ' Do you mean that ?' ' I do ; 
I mean it because I have tried it myself in so much 
of doubt, so much of temptation of soul, that I can 
never tell you all.' 'I will this day come to Christ,' 
said he; and humbly the young man went down upon 
his knees — probably for the first time in many and 
many a year. That was the turning point in his des- 
tiny ; that was the right-about-face, which meant an 



342 THE TKUE PATH. 

exalted manhood, which meant a happy home, a 
lovely wife, a home that was a home to go to." 



GOING TO SATAN S DOMAINS. 

Miss Willard narrates the following : 

" For three years I have been to Old Orchard Beach 
every summer, and to' several other places, where 
we continued through the summer this work. It 
is not put away then, but lasts right through, and 
this next summer will be the same subject — G-ospel 
Temperance. At some of those meetings the ladies 
said they wanted some of our reformed men to speak, 
and so they brought out one man who represented 
one class to whom we go as temperance workers. He 
related his experience, and told how he had been in 
every clime, and in every prison in every place he had 
visited, on account of his one besetting sin — drunken- 
ness ; how he had been buffeted on every shore, and 
cuffed on every sea, and had had many a policeman ask 
him in a gruff voice, ' Where are you going ?' He said 
when he was visiting a ship-mate he met a lady who 
asked him the same question, but in a kind, calm voice : 
1 My brother, where are you going V ' Well,' said 
he, 'as near as I can find out I am going straight to 
his Satanic Majesty's domains.' She took out her 
Bible and said : e I am trying to go just the other 
way. These are my credentials.' In a short time 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 343 

she had him in a crowd of fifty women, and there 
they prayed ; there they sang 

' The mistakes of iny life have been many, 
The sins of my life have been more.' 

and since that time he said he had not drank a drop. 
The other class we go to is the well-to-do ; those who 
have genius ; those who have education ; those who 
have culture.' 



HOW THE WOMEN" WERE " STARTED. 

It may be interesting to many persons to know 
how the women of our country began their great 
efforts against intemperance. The following is the 
account given of its origin by Miss Willard re- 
cently : 

" A. Boston man went to Ohio, and in the town of 
Hillsborough lectured on ' Our Girls.' That man 
described how his mother, after having been driven 
to desperation by the intemperance of his father, 
went to the man who had sold him liquor and asked 
him if she might pray for him. He consented, and 
with tears in his eyes promised never again to sell 
liquor to her husband. At the close of the lecture a 
Presbyterian clergyman arose and said that the women 
had heard what one woman had done, and asked that 
the women of Hillsborough might unite in such a 
work. The ladies remained and decided that Mrs. 
Thompson, the wife of a drunkard, should lead the 



344 THE TRUE PATH. 

movement. Her spn, a lad of fourteen, heard what 
was said, and hastening home, told his mother that 
they had got her into business over at the church. 
The husband was in the next room, and he said : ' I 
guess, mother, you'd better not go, it's all folderol.' 
1 Well,' she answered, ' the men have been at it long 
enough, and it is time for the women to try their 
hands now.' The next morning the husband said: 
1 Well, children, it's no use for us to say anything to 
mother, there's where she gets her marching orders ' — 
pointing to the family Bible. Then the 146th Psalm 
was adopted as the hymn of the crusade. Mrs. 
Thompson went to the church, a prayer- meeting was 
held, conducted by women, and then they went to 
the first saloon, where the Bible was read, though it 
had never before been heard except in ridicule. So 
the crusade began, and the speaker declared that she 
was glad that she was one of those engaged in the 
work." 



" THEN SHAKE !" 

At a meeting in the Temperance Tabernacle, in 
Philadelphia, the first two signers were considerably 
intoxicated. They came forward to the table during 
the exercises and attached their signatures to the 
book with no little difficulty. "I am drunk now," 
said one of them, u but I'm going to do it. Will yer 
keep it, Charlie ?" he asked his companion. " Yes." 
" Then shake," and the men squeezed each other's 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 345 

hands and made their promise more binding by 
shaking hands with the usher who was stationed at 
the table, and called upon him to witness their agree- 
ment. Then they rolled down the aisle and disap- 
appeared. 



" i'm unraveling ! " 

Mr. Charles Wenzell, the reformed sporting man, 
of Pittsburg, who has done valiant work for temper- 
ance, tells of a man who went home from a drinking 
spree, and, on looking around for something to eat, 
found some bread and milk in a bowl, into which 
a ball of thread had fallen. He swallowed the thread 
as well as the''* bread and milk, but an end of the 
thread stuck in his teeth, and, as he drew it out, it 
came arm's-length after arm's-length, until, becoming 
alarmed, he called out : " Maria! Maria ! come down 
here with a light ; I'm unraveling ! " And, adds Mr. 
Wenzell, that " is what we want you to do, boys. 
We want you to unravel the chain that has been 
entwining itself about you." 



"won and saved." 

At a collection taken recently at a temperance 
meeting, a man went up to the platform, when Mr. 
Murphy said: "I know you have a good heart." 



346 THE TRUE PATH. 

" Yes," replied the man, " jour kindness has won 
and saved me." The incident was a pleasing one 
and affected the whole audience. 



"I MADE HIM WHAT HE WAS." 

A few weeks ago a saloon-keeper in Dover, Dela- 
ware, who patronized his own bar very liberally, 
stepped into a back room where men were at work 
about a pump in a well. The covering had been re- 
moved, and he approached to look down, but being 
very drunk he pitched in head foremost. He had 
become so much of a bloat by the use of strong drink 
that it was impossible to extricate him 'in time to save 
his life. 

There was great excitement in the town. Men and 
women who had never been inside of his saloon before, 
were first to rush to the rescue, and to offer sympathy 
to the bereaved family. As he was being dragged 
from the well and stretched out dead upon the saloon 
floor, a wholesale liquor dealer from Philadelphia 
stepped in. After the first shock at thus finding one 
of his best customers dead, he turned to a prominent 
lady, a crusader, and said, pointing to the wrecked 
victim : " I made that man what he was. I lent him 
his first dollar and set him up with his first stock of 
liquors, and he is now worth $10,000 or $15,000." 

Looking him full in the face, she responded : 

" You made that man what he was — a drunkard, 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 347 

a bloat, a stench in the nostrils of society, and sent 
him headlong into eternity, and to a drunkard's hell ? 
What is $15,000 weighed against a lost soul, a wasted 
life, a wife a widow, and children orphans ?" 

He turned deadly pale, and without a word left the 
house. 



RUM-MADNESS. 

From an account, lately furnished us, of a visit to 
the Orange County, N".. Y., Insane Asylum, we re- 
cord these lessons as suited to this place and work : 

"'All incurable,' said the Superintendent. 'That 
little melancholy looking fellow, shuffling along this 
way, is Johnny Landon, well known two or three 
years ago on the road between Port Jervis and Mil- 
ford. He came from England a few years since with 
$3,000, and married a wealthy girl in New York, 
moved up the Erie, and run a freight wagon. His 
wife and four children had to leave him, he used 
them so badly. Two years ago he was brought here. 
Rum fixed him.' 

" Amid this Babel of yells and shrieks, a middle- 
aged man sat at a table absorbed in a game of check- 
ers which he was playing, his right hand against his 
left. 

" ' Maybe you know that man ?' said Mr. Goodale. 
' Hello, Mapes. Playing it alone ? ' 

" The patient looked up. I was astounded to re- 
cognize in the greatly changed features the genial 



348 THE TRUE PATH. 

Capt. Perry Mapes, once the well-known owner of a 
line of Hudson river steamboats, the partner of CoL 
E. R. Abbott in the Rathbone House, Elmira, and a 
few years ago owner of a large hotel in Hornellsville. 
Know him ? No man was better known from New 
York to Buffalo. 

" ' What brought Capt. Mapes here V I asked of 
the keeper. 

" ' Rum,' was the reply." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

"WHAT. RUM WILL DO." 

The words and facts herewith given were taken 
from the lips of Mr. Grough, the orator, and are wor- 
thy the attention of every reader : 

u A minister of the Grospel told me one of the most 
thrilling incidents I have heard in my life. A mem- 
ber of his congregation came home for the first time 
in his life intoxicated, and his boy met him on the 
door-step, clapping his hands and exclaiming, ' Papa 
has come home !' He seized that boy by the shoul- 
der, swung him around, staggered, and fell in the 
hall. That minister said to me (I could give you his 
name, if necessary), ' I spent the night in that house. 
I went out, bared my brow that the night air might 
fall upon it and cool it. I walked out and down the 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 349 

hill. There was bis child dead; there was his wife 
in strong convulsions, and he asleep. A man but 
thirty years of age asleep, with a dead child in the 
house, having a blue mark upon the temple where 
the corner of the marble steps had come in contact 
with the head as he swung him around, and a wife 
upon the brink of the grave!' ' Mr. Gough,' said my 
friend, ' I cursed the drink. He had told me I must 
remain until he awoke, and I did. "When he awoke 
he passed his hand over his face, and exclaimed, 
6 What is the matter ? Where am I ? Where is ray 
boy ?' ' You cannot see him.' ' Stand out of my way. 
I will see my boy.' To prevent confusion I took him 
to the child's bed, and as I turned down the sheet and 
showed him the corpse, he uttered a wild shriek, 'Ah, 
my child !' That minister said further to me, ' One 
year after that he was brought from a lunatic asylum 
to lie side by side with his wife, in one grave, and I 
attended the funeral.' The minister of the Gospel 
who told me that fact is to-day a drunken hostler in 
a stable in Boston. Now tell me what rum will do. 
It will debase, degrade, imbrute, and damn everything 
that is noble, bright, glorious, and god-like in a human 
being. There is nothing drink will not do that is 
vile, dastardly, cowardly, sneaking or hellish. We 
are, are we not ; to fight till the day of our death ?" 



THRILLING STORY. 



" At a certain town meeting in Pennsylvania, the 
question came up whether any persons should be li- 
16 



350 THE TRUE PATH. 

censed to sell rum. The clergyman, the deacon, the 
physician, strange as it may now appear, all favored 
it, one man only spoke against it, because of the 
mischief it did. The question was about to be put, 
when there arose from one corner of the room a mis- 
erable woman. She was thinly clad, and her ap- 
pearance indicated the utmost wretchedness, and that 
her mortal career was almost closed. After a mo- 
ment's silence, and all eyes being fixed upon her, 
she stretched her attenuated body to its utmost 
height, and then her long arms to their greatest 
length, and raising her voice to a shrill pitch, she 
called to all to look upon her. 

", Yes!' she said, 'look upon me, and then, hear 
me. All that the last speaker has said relative to 
temperate drinking, as being the father of drunken- 
ness, is true. All practice, ail experience, declares 
its truth. All drinking of alcoholic poison, as a bev- 
erage in health, is excess. Look upon me I You all 
know me, or once did. You all know I was once the 
mistress of the best farm in the town. You all know, 
too, I had one of the best — the most devoted of hus- 
bands. You all know that I had fine, noble-hearted, 
industrious boys. Where are they now ? Doctor, 
where are they now ? You all know. You all know 
they lie in a row, side by side, in yonder churchyard ; 
all — every one of them filling the drunkard's grave ! 
They were all taught to believe that temperate drink- 
ing was safe — that excess alone ought to be avoided ; 
and they never acknowledged excess. They quoted 
you, and you, and you, pointing with her shred ol a 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 351 

finger to the minister, deacon and doctor, as author- 
ity. They thought themselves safe under such teach- 
ers. But I saw the gradual change coming over my 
family and its prospects, with dismay and horror. I 
felt we were all to be overwhelmed in one common 
ruin. I tried to ward off the blow ; I tried to break 
the spell, the delusive spell, in which the idea of the 
benefits of temperate drinking had involved my hus- 
band and sons. I begged, I prayed ; but the odds 
were against me. 

" ' The minister said the poison that was destroy- 
ing my husband and boys was a good creature of 
God ; the deacon who sits under the pulpit there, and 
took our farm to pay his rum bills, sold them the 
poison ; the doctor said a little was good, and the ex- 
cess only ought to be avoided. My poor husband, 
and my dear boys fell into the snare, and they could 
not escape ; and one after another were conveyed to 
the sorrowful grave of the drunkard. Now look at me 
again. You probably see me for the last time. My 
sands have almost run. I have dragged my exhausted 
frame from my present home — your poor-house — 
to warn you all ; to warn you, deacon ! to warn you, 
false teacher of God's words I' And with her arms 
flung high, and her tall form stretched to its utmost, 
and her voice raised to an unearthly pitch, she ex- 
claimed, 'I shall soon stand before the judgment seat 
of Gocl. I shall meet you there, you false guides, 
and be a witness against you all ! ' 

" The miserable woman vanished. A dead silence 
pervaded the assembly ; the minister, the deacon and 



352 THE TRUE PATH. 

physician, hung their heads ; and when the president 
of the meeting put the question, ' Shall any licenses 
be granted for the sale of spirituous liquors?' the 
unanimous response was ' No ! ' " 



A TRUE IRISHMAN. 

The following is furnished by Colonel Drew of 
Washington, D. C, in illustration of what can be done 
toward reform, by a resolute and good intentioned 
man: 

" A man I knew in Washington kept a grocery on 
Pennsylvania avenue and Ninth street and kept liquor 
in connection with his business, but it was by no 
means his principal business. One night he sold a 
quart of whiskey to a blacksmith who lived in an 
adjoining square. When he came to his store Mon- 
day morning, he was told that the man had become 
intoxicated during Sunday, and had built a fire for his 
forge Sunday night, and had fallen into it. The shop 
and forge was burned, and the man too. The dealer 
walked across the square and saw the man's charred 
body, and he then walked back to his store, called 
down his employes and rolled out every barrel of 
rum, gin, spirit and every cask of wine, and staving 
the heads of the barrels in, he let it run into the 
Potomac. He shut up his shop, and never sold a drop 
afterwards. That man did that though he was in 
debt for goods in his store, to-day he is worth : 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 353 

000 ; and be never sold a drop of rum since he shut 
up his store. The name of this man is J. Savage, of 
Washington, an Irishman, and one of the greatest de- 
fenders of this cause in this country." 



"A CRIPPLE FOR LIFE. 

The following narrative of Mr. John Tennyson, 
was taken down as uttered at a Murphy meeting in 
the Tabernacle, Philadelphia, a few weeks since: 

" If I were to take the time to tell you ail the bene- 
fits I have received from signing the pledge, you 
would have to ' amen ' me down like Brother Mur- 
phy. I am doing well, better than I ever did before. 
I have been lifted from the depths of a life of degra- 
dation into a better life. A few weeks ago I was 
discarded from a home of luxury and ease to that of 
woe and want. Nine weeks ago last Saturday night, 
I entered Concert Hall in a semi-intoxicated condi- 
tion. I took a seat in the remotest corner of the hall 
where I might hide my tattered garments from the 
rude gaze of the people, and you may know how 
much interest I felt in the meeting when I tell you 
I fell asleep, and was not awakened until Mr. Mur- 
phy was making his closing speech. The next day 
at noon I signed the pledge and have not since 
regretted that step. 

" Soon after the war I became intimately acquain- 
ted with a young man whose life in this world bade 



354 THE TRUE PATH. 

fair to lead him on to fortune. His was a jovial dis- 
position, frank and open hearted, and it was his wont 
to meet with convival friends on a set night and make 
a time of it. One cold winter morning in the year 
1868, after indulging more than usual,- that morning 
he proceeded to his work, which consisted in putting 
a tin roof upon a building. He had been there only 
a few hours when making a mis-step he fell backward 
through the skylight, a distance of forty feet and was 
picked up in a lifeless condition. An eminent physi- 
cian was sent for, who said : ' 1 can not add tortures 
to his miseries, he can not live.' He was taken to the 
Pennsylvania Hospital, his relatives were sent for, 
and the first at his bedside was his mother. As she 
bended her slender form over the bed of that oldest 
son, with an agonized eye she looked into the eyes of 
the physician, saying: 'Oh! sir! can he live? Can 
my boy live ?' She did not want him to be sent to a 
drunkard's grave. The physician replied : ' We can 
not tell, his life is in a higher power than ours.' All 
through that dreary winter she carried him nourish- 
ment and consolation. He was removed to her home 
only to rise from that bed a cripple for life. It is 
unnecessary for me to tell you that that man and my- 
self are the same person. I hate the vile groggery ; 
it has robbed me of the use of a good right arm, it 
has invaded our social and family circles and re- 
moved our best friends. Oh, men, arise and assert 
your liberty by enrolling your name on the roll of 
honor. Oh, men I why bow ye down to images of 
btone? Now, rise! be free! trust in the God above, 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 855 

for with him is mercy and goodness. Gome forward 
then to-night and sign the pledge. Take the advice of 
one who has known the miseries which result from 
the use of intoxicating drink, and who is now free 
from it and enjoying a life of temperance." 



" FROM THE TOP OF THE LADDER TO THE FOOT." 

The following words were uttered by Mr. Frank* 
Burns, of Pittsburg, at the Murphy Tabernacle, in 
Philadelphia, a short time since: 

" I am amazed at the immense size of this build- 
ing, which I expected so little to see. I came here 
to-day to see Mr. Murphy, because I have been so 
weary with the work in Pittsburg that I wished a 
little rest ; and, I thought I would get a little rest by 
coming to see him, as he has been a friend to me. 
As I was sitting here to-night my thoughts went 
back to a little over five years ago, when I was in 
your city, about to leave it for Pittsburg, accompany- 
ing my father's body home. He died, while on a 
visit here, of pneumonia, after five days illness. I 
was at that time attending Jefferson Medical College. 
When he died I became heir to a fortune of over 
$80,000. As I was his only child, and as my mother 
had died four years previously, I did not have the 
right people to counsel me. I spent a portion of my 
time in this city. I then went into the liquor busi- 
ness in New York, I next went down to Pittsburg 



356 THE TRUE PATH. 

and got' married, and made a wedding tour to Eu- 
rope, through Ireland and England. I assure you 
Irish whiskey did not improve matters with -me. I 
returned, and, to make a long story short, I gradu- 
ally went on till I got from the top of the ladder to 
the foot almost. Thank God to-night I am saved ; 
but I might have been saved sooner. About four 
months ago I had a drinking spree of about five 
days. I had not heard of Mr. Murphy being in 
Pittsburg, but one morning I met brother David 
Hall, who asked me to come and hear Murphy. I 
said : 'All right.' I didn't know where Murphy 
was. I thought it was some new saloon. I said : 
' Yes, I would as soon drink Murphy's whiskey as 
anybody else's.' So he took me up to the University 
and we saw Murphy. It was not the Murphy I 
expected to see. I signed the pledge. I have been 
saved through the instrumentality of Mr. Murphy, 
by the grace of God, from a drunkard's grave. I 
do not come here to praise him. But I know the 
good he has done me, and I know what he has done 
for Pittsburg." 



11 CAUGHT IN THE MURPHY NET." 

Mr. Harry Rawle had been engaged in the sale 
of intoxicating liquor in Pittsburg. He came to the 
conclusion that he had better 'stop the business, and 
sign the pledge. Recently he was invited to give 
his testimony before a large meeting, when he said : 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 357 

" This is the first time I have ever been before an 
audience in my life. Brother Murphy has asked me 
to say a few words. I will say them in my own way. 
I kept a saloon about four years, during which time 
I have drank a good deal. I was often told I had 
better give up drinking. I took a quiet drink very 
often until Murphy came to Pittsburg. One day I 
thought I would drop in and see who Mr. Murphy 
was. I went in. A gentleman who knew me said, c I 
had better come up and sign the pledge.' I said : ' I 
don't drink much ; I do not think it is necessary for 
me to sign it.' He said : ' I have seen you when you 
have had too much.' I said : ' I am in the business, and 
I cannot sign it now, as I have nothing else to do.' 
Some lady said : ' We will pray for you.' I said : ' I' 
will be thankful to you for that.' I went home and 
told my friends I had seen Murphy. And was asked 
what I thought of him. I said : ' He is a nice kind 
of a man ; that was all there was of him.' I did not 
take much stock in him. Nevertheless, after a little 
while and a varied experience, I was caught in the 
Murphy net. Just before Murphy came away I 
signed the pledge, and have kept it ever since." 



16* 



358 THE TRUE PATH. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

THE WAY TO MASTER THE APPETITE. 

Mr. John H. Love, of Philadelphia, said before a 
great Tabernacle meeting : 

"At the age of sixteen I had an iron constitution. 
For twenty-five years I was a moderate drinker. I 
could start on five glasses and keep on drinking and 
still remain pretty sober. The habit was increasing 
upon me year after year, and my appetite for drink 
got stronger and stronger, so that I could not do 
without it. The accursed stuff was dragging me 
down into the lowest depths, and poisoning me. I 
had power over everything but that. Whiskey had 
the mastery over me. Now, thank God, since I 
have signed the pledge, I am master ; and, by the help 
of God, I will be master. It is something noble for 
you, young men, to throw the cursed shackles from 
off your feet. There is not a man living but can 
stop drinking and be a man. This country is large. 
There is not a man in the country, or city, but what 
there is employment for, if he will go about it in the 
right way. Some say : ' There is no use in my sign- 
ing it, I cannot keep it.' Whenever the temptation 
oomes to you, even if you have the whiskey poured 
out, get on your knees first, and I will guarantee 
that the whiskey is thrown on the floor, and you will 
go off feeling a better man. I have had trials, but I 
can look back and say I am master now." 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 359 

u WOULDN'T RETURN TO IT FOR $100 PER DAY." 

Mr. Charles Wenzell, the reformed sporting man 
of Pittsburg, narrated his experience in Cincinnati, at 
a large meeting. He remarked, " That no doubt 
some in the audience knew him from days gone by, 
when he was in an entirely different occupation. 
Last ^October he had a drinking saloon in Pittsburg, 
and sold it out — not because of a sense of the impro- 
priety of his calling, but simply because the saloon 
was not paying. He went to New York for the pur- 
pose of embarking for South America, but didn't go, 
for reasons he need not state. He spent all the 
money he had to pay for his passage, and in obedi- 
ence to an irresistible desire returned to Pittsburg. 
He did not return to resume his old business, for that 
was not tolerated under the law. He had been a 
card player for twenty -three years, and had made his 
living that way. He couldn't explain why he went 
back to Pittsburg. Having nothing else to do he at- 
tended a Murphy meeting. After the meeting he 
was asked by a newspaper reporter what he thought 
of it, and carelessly answered that he thought ' Mur- 
phy was on a pretty fine racket, and making some 
money by charging twenty-five cents a head at his 
meetings.' The next day he attended a meeting in a 
church, the first church he had been in for twenty 
years. He attended other meetings, and resolved to 
join the church and sign the pledge. He called upon 
Murphy and asked his advice, and what he would do 



360 THE TRUE PATH. 

after giving up "his old ways, and how he could make 
a living. Murphy replied, that God would provide a 
way, and referred to the Scriptural teaching about 
the Father feeding the sparrows and clothing the 
lilies of the field. 'But,' queried Wenzell, ' I am no 
sparrow.' Murphy answered, " Try it, and you will 
be provided for/ The speaker did give himself to 
the church, and signed the pledge, and severed him- 
self from his old associations. He would not return 
to that business again if he was assured that it would 
yield him $100 a day, in exchange for the bright and 
beautiful life in the future for him. He felt confi- 
dent that there was hundreds to-day in the business 
he had abandoned, who would quit it in a minute if- 
they could see the means ahead of them by which to 
earn an honorable living. He enjoined them to try 
the experiment, and declared that they would be well 
taken care of." 



A PATHETIC STORY. 

At a Gospel Temperance meeting in the Boston 
Tabernacle, a few weeks ago, Mr. D. L. Moody in- 
troduced Mr. William Torrence to the audience in 
the following words : 

" When I went to Chicago last October I received 
a letter from a Glasgow minister, enclosing one from 
a father in Scotland, written to this Glasgow minis- 
ter, asking him if he could not get me to look after 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 361 

his boy who was in America ; that the last he heard 
of him he was somewhere in Chicago. Mr. Sawyer 
took this letter and search was made for the young 
man. Weeks passed away, and just before we left, a 
little while before we left, in one of the second meet- 
ings a young man rose for prayer, and when we came 
to inquire his name it was this young man that we 
had been looking after for weeks and months. One 
thing I suppose that drew me out toward him was 
his name was Willie, and that is the name of my 
only boy, and this Scotch father' went on to tell how 
he loved his only boy, and if I could only find his 
Willie and bring him to Christ how thankful he 
would be. That Willie is here to-day, and I am go- 
ing to make him tell his own story." 

Mr. Torrence said: "I have been a drunkard. The 
hot blood of shame comes to my face to-day as I 
stand before this immense audience. But there is a 
thrill of gratitude in my heart that I can stand here 
and tell you that I am not now a drunkard. That is 
a thing of the past, and by the grace of God I 
stand before you sober, redeemed, regenerated, saved. 
Twenty-years ago I was a bright, happy boy starting 
out from a country village in Scotland to finish my 
education. I went to Glasgow with the prayers of a 
father and mother that hoped to see me shine to 
society. They thought a brilliant career was before 
me, but alas, how their hopes were blighted. In the 
city of Glasgow I commenced to drink and fell in 
with friends that led me on. I was an apt scholar. 
Day by day I got deeper and deeper into the vortex 



362 THE TRUE PATH. 

until a few years ago, the last link in the chain was 
forged, which bound me to a drunkard's life. I was 
bound hand and foot, body and soul by this terrible 
curse of intemperance. 

" I left my native land a few years ago, after I had 
broken my wife's heart, and laid her in the grave. 
She was the. truest friend I ever had ; when all friends 
forsook me she stood by me, and when I closed the 
big coffin lid over her pure white face I shut from 
my sight a true friend that Grod had sent me. She 
was a Christian woman, her father was a clergyman, 
and I nipped her young life. Whiskey did it. I 
loved her as I loved my life, but she died after we 
had been married three years, and then, driven to 
despair and remorse, I left my native country with- 
out saying good-by to kith or kin. 

" The ghost of that pale face haunted me for three 
years, drunk or sober, at home or abroad, asleep or 
awake, it haunted me and drove me almost to mad- 
ness. I tried to drown my sorrow, but there has 
come to my heart a different hope; instead of that 
ghost of my wife's pale face haunting me, there has 
come to me now the hope that by-and-by we will 
meet together, and if we did < not live long together 
in this world, I feel that by-and by, in the endless 
years of eternity we will be together. 

" She left me a little daughter, and when she was a 
baby I used to perform the little offices devolving 
upon her mother, who was sick, and the child was 
very fond of me. I have only seen her once since 
that time, but now I am on my way to Scotland to 



GOSPEL TEMPEKANCE. 363 

see my child. She wrote me a letter some time ago 
which said, i Dear papa, I aai very glad to know you 
are a good man, and you are coming back to see your 
little daughter,' and she sent me a thousand kisses, 
and I am going to have them. I am going back to 
be embraced by my father and mother and to attend 
my sister's wedding. But I have also an invitation 
to another marriage, and that is the marriage supper 
of the Lamb, and I have accepted that invitation and 
shall be there. 

" I am going beside the grave, in that cold church 
yard, where lies my wife, and to stand there before 
God and thank Him that I am able to come and utter 
that prayer, * Oh God save me and keep me,' and 
God has done so. Five months ago I went into the 
Tabernacle in Chicago without a hope and without a 
friend. What took me there I cannot tell you. I 
sat and listened to such testimonials as by the grace 
of God I am able to utter before you to-day. I went 
into the second meeting, and arose for the first time 
in my life for prayer, and the prayers of Christian 
people touched my heart. 

" Mr. Sawyer came forward and asked me my 
name. I told him and he started, and I wondered 
what could have been the matter, and he said, ' My 
dear sir, we have been looking for you for two 
months nearly ; fifty praying men and women of 
Chicago have been praying for you.' I certainly 
could not understand this, because I did not know 
there was any one cared about me. He then told me 
of the letter which had been sent to Mr. Moody. I 



S64: THE TRUE PATH. 

could not stand the knowledge of this fact that my 
father and mother were still looking after me. 

" In this condition I was led to Mr. Moody's room 
and Mr. Moody knelt down and prayed for me, and 
that prayer is still riveted upon my mind, and will 
be as long as I live ; and then Christian people took 
me in hand and told me I was not the miserable, de- 
graded, wretched creature that people told me I was ; 
that if I had no friend in this world I had a friend in 
Jesus ; that if my earthly father and mother were 
seeking for me these many years, Jesus was seeking 
for me and had tried to save me ; that such a lost 
wretch as I might be saved, and that truth sunk down 
into my heart as it never had done before. 

" In my young days I was told all about this, but 
I didn't understand it, but that morning the Lord of 
Glory flashed into my heart that it was true and I 
was led then and there — I was partially intoxicated 
at the time — to yield myself to God, and I did so ; 
and that night, in my room, I begged and prayed to 
God to accept such an unworthy sinner as I was, and 
ere the morning sun shone there came to my heart a 
still small voice that said, ' Son, thy sins be forgiven 
thee.' 

" A few months ago I started out in business ; I 
hadn't a cent ; I hadn't anything. I was engaged by 
a firm who thought they might trust me. People 
said I would not stand. I could not stand it myself, 
but I started out strong in the Lord and I stood, and 
I am here to-day sober. I have traveled all over 
the Northwest, through Minnesota and Illinois. I 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 363 

represent a respectable firm, travel with plenty of 
money and live at the best hotels, and I have honored 
the Lord for all He has done for me. But above all 
there is a peace and hope, not the drunkard's hope, 
but the hope that the Christian has of eternal life. I 
begin now to realize what life is, and I want to live 
now, not for myself, but to help those who belong to 
the class of which I once formed a part. 

"I have had temptations on the road, but I over- 
came them. The first week I started out, when I 
was in a large hotel I asked for a pudding and I 
found it swimming in brandy sauce. I tell you the 
old devil within me smelt it at once, but the Lord 
was with me, and I called the waiter and said ' take 
it away for I am afraid of it/ and I asked the land- 
lord as a duty which he owed to the class to which I 
belonged that it should be written on that bill of fare 
that there was brandy in that sauce (applause), and I 
went to my room and thanked God I was saved from 
that. My father wrote to me that he was afraid I 
should fall, because I was a commercial traveler 
again, but I replied I was a commercial traveler and 
traveling with the Lord, and He was with me, and 
that he need not be afraid, and in such moments of 
temptation, I whisper into the ear of Him who is 
mighty to save, and I come out more than a con- 
queror. 

" I left Chicago last Tuesday night, and the re- 
formed men in that city asked me to tell the reformed 
men in Boston how glad they were to hear that you 
are trusting in the same God for your salvation. 



366 THE TRUE PATH. 

" The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the grand 
cure for the drunkard. With that in my heart I 
never want a single drop of liquor, because Jesus 
Christ is there, but while the devil was in tny heart 
he wanted me to drink all the time." 



"OUT OF SIX, THE ONLY ONE. 7 

Wm. T. Haines, Esq., of Chester, Pa., at a Murphy 
temperance meeting at West Chester, said that this 
was the first movement in which he ever had faith. 
He said no one but a born idiot would argue that 
drinking is a blessing to anybody. He stated that 
the^ reason he had signed the pledge was that he re- 
membered that out of six men who started as young 
men together^ he was the only one left. They drank 
and they filled drunkard's graves. Two had died 
by their own hands, two more had died even while 
they were drunk. 



A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE. 

A Boston lawyer writes, under date of May 16th, 
that " he had been a drinking man for years, and lately 
had become completely subjected to the appetite. He 
had tried again and again to break off, but in a few 
days he would find himself in some favorite rum shop. 
Last Sunday afternoon he went to the Tabernacle and 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 367 

heard the testimony given there of those who had 
been saved. That night he prayed twice before re- 
tiring to bed. On Monday morning he arose, feeling 
a marked change. He had his breakfast and went to 
his business, experiencing no desire to get rum.. He 
went home that night, the first time for months that 
his family could not smell the liquor from his breath. 
He was filled with courage, and before retiring prayed 
again. Tuesday morning he arose, and after break- . 
fast went to business again, passing the doors of rum 
shops where he had been accustomed to get his morn- 
ing drink. He felt himself absolutely free from any 
desire to drink. The third day came and there was 
no desire for rum. He felt that God had answered 
his prayers and given him strength to lead a good 
life in the future." 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

" BOYS KIDNAPPED " BY INTEMPERANCE. 

Mr. Murphy, at one of his meetings, called on a 
reformed man named Martin for his testimony. He 
appeared on the platform with his two little sons, 
aged respectively four and five years, who had been 
separated for some time from him, on account of his 
intemperate habits. He said that seven weeks ago 
he had signed the pledge, and that God had given 



368 THE TBUE PATH. 

him the strength to keep it ever since. When he 
was drinking he was compelled to commit his children 
to the care of the Home, but when he took a stand 
for temperance his children were restored to him, and 
now he has a happy family and a pleasant home. He 
said that the best thing for any man to do would be 
for him to sign the pledge, and then ask the Almighty 
to give him strength to keep it. 

In commenting upon this case, Mr. Murphy said : 
" There is no place that has felt such a sensation as 
was experienced in Philadelphia when little Charlie 
Eoss was kidnapped. The newspapers were teeming 
with it. I was in Chicago at the time, and story after 
story and report after report came, describing the 
event in words that caused the stoutest hearts to 
weep. Do you know there is hardly a family in this 
city but what has just as sweet children as Charlie 
Eoss kidnapped? There has been a scene on this 
stage to-night unrivalled by any scene I have ever 
witnessed, and that was two dear boys, who had been 
kidnapped through the evils of intemperance, have 
been restored to him again, and he is once more a 
happy man, and clothed in his right mind." 



" DRANK UP A BARREL OF MONEY." 

At a great temperance gathering in the Queen City, 
James C. Dunn said, " That only five weeks ago, in 
Columbus, he little thought he would be before them 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 369 

advocating temperance reform, but the reformers 
came to him with words of love, and they touched 
his heart. He signed the pledge, and for the first 
time in his life realized what a precious thing life is. 
Even in this short time of five weeks he has been 
enabled to look back upon a thraldom worse than 
slavery. He felt redeemed from the grave. 

" Early in life he became a drunkard. His father 
gave him a good education, and started him in busi- 
ness, and in Western New York he drank up forty 
thousand dollars in whiskey. He then came out 
West, to Columbus, and tried to reform. His fa- 
ther helped again and started him in business, but 
again he was floored. Then he became a clerk and 
worked a few years, but still beset by the terrible 
appetite for drink. Then occurred a lapse of reason. 
His father helped him again, and he found himself in 
business and doing two hundred thousand dollars a 
year, but — would they believe it ? — he drank that all 
up ; and still another dry goods store. That was three 
dry goods stores he had consumed in drink. Yes, 
and he drank a barrel of money besides." 



THE ONLY SURE HELP. 



At the Tabernacle, in Philadelphia, Mr. J. A. 
Southwick, a leading merchant said, " That on Easter 
Sunday night he signed the pledge, and when he did 
so he gave his heart to Christ. For years he had 



370 THE TRUE PATH. 

been a drinking man, and had several times been 
prostrated by severe illness, but when he recovered 
he always went back to drinking. He joined a good 
temperance society, thinking that he would be safe. 
For a time he was safe, but the tempter became 
stronger and he fell. He then thought he could ab- 
stain from drinking by his own will, but the same 
ill-success attended his efforts, and now he could say 
that no power but that of the blessed Saviour could 
keep a man firm and true. A man must rely upon a 
strength greater than his own ; he knew it from ex- 
perience, and would say to all that when they signed 
the pledge, if they sincerely desired to keep it, 
the best and surest way would be to ask God to help 
them." 



RAN THE GAUNTLET OF THE RUM SHOPS IN CHICAGO. 

At a Gospel Temperance Meeting, Miss Willard 
recently said, "That as often as she heard the testi- 
monials of reformed men she wished the man she 
loved best, her brother, could stand on the Taber- 
nacle platform and tell what strong drink had done 
for him, but he was a thousand miles away and could 
not testify. She remembered how susceptible he was 
to religious inflences, his successful college course, his 
entry into the ministry and the large harvest which 
he gathered in, and how, when broken down, he- went 
to a physician for medicine and was given a receipt 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 371 

which was practically a receipt for strong drink. 
The appetite grew on him, and at last his devoted 
wife made me acquainted with his condition. When 
I saw him, he held up the Bible and said, ' Do you 
believe in this ? I tell you that no drinking man 
can believe in the Bible. I believe in nothing but in 
the fact that lam going headlong to perdition.' He 
said a man needed nothing but will, and lie prom- 
ised he would not drink any more, but I need not 
tell you how he fell." Miss Willard then related how 
her brother was saved from the curse of intemperance 
through the intervention of a helping hand and a 
willing heart in the person of Deacon Willard of Chi- 
cago, who preached Christ to him and induced him 
to again accept Him as his Saviour ; and the words 
of life act as a talisman On that brother and enables 
him to run the gauntlet of the rum shops in Chicago, 
and he has stood firm for years. 



" FOUR TIMES IN PRISON." 

John Murray, one of Mr. Murphy's recent converts, 
being introduced to a meeting, spoke as follows : 
" Six weeks ago I was on my way over the hills to 
the poor house. I was intemperate for twenty-six 
years. My father left me with a good trade, a large 
blacksmith shop, and a two-story house. In two 
years I swallowed them .all, and I have swallowed 
everything that I have earned since. I would work 



372 THE TRUE PATH. 

for a week or two and then go on a drunk for a week 
or two. I have had the mania-a-potu twice and have 
been four times committed to Moyamensing prison 
for drunkenness." He depicted what he had under- 
gone during the first few days after signing the 
Murphy pledge. For four days he could not take any 
nourishment, but by the grace of God he had held 
out. 



"GOD DID ALL FOR HIM/' 

In a New England Temperance Meeting, a Mr. 
McElwain was the first speaker. He said, " That he 
was ashamed to get up and say that for twenty-five 
years he had been a slave to drink, but such was the 
fact. For seventeen years he was a moderate drinker, 
but eight years ago he became convinced that he was 
forming an appetite that was getting the better of him. 
He joined all kinds of temperance societies, but fell 
again and again during eight years. He did every- 
thing he could in his own strength, but after eight 
years' struggle, he was drunk from Thanksgiving 
Day to the first of March. Everybody gave him up, 
even his little boy's Sabbath school teacher telling 
the little fellow that his father must die as he was 
living. Early last March he was a perfect wreck. 
While intoxicated he went, he knew not how, into a 
Baptist prayer meeting. He arose and asked for 
prayers ; the minister talked to him and made him 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 373 

promise to go to church again Sunday morning. 
Saturday he got up and got more rum. Next day a 
Baptist brother took him to church, and he went 
three times that day, intoxicated. At noon the church 
people talked the matter over and appointed a detail 
of men to watch him and get him sober. When the 
rum was out of him he was very weak, and in that 
condition he was brought to the Tabernacle, where 
he arose for prayer and prayed himself. He got up 
from his knees as free from the appetite as any person 
in the Tabernacle, and it never had come to him in 
the slightest degree from that time. His home had 
been changed and his wife and children and he him- 
self were happy. He expressed the hope that those 
who were trying to conquer their appetite in their 
own strength might become convinced that they 
could not do it and surrender themselves to Grod. 
He took no credit at all to himself. God having 
done all for him." 



"THAT UNDERTOW OF TEMPERANCE. 

At a Murphy meeting in the Quaker City, Dr. J. 
S. Cram said : "That he was glad to be present, and 
he was attracted to the place in spite of himself. Six 
months ago he heard Mr. Murphy in the city of 
Pittsburg, but he had no faith in him, because he 
esteemed him as a fanatic, and rather preferred the 
beer gardens and theatre to the church. He signed 
the pledge in Concert Hall, after his wife had done 
17 



374 THE TEUE PATH. 

so. She had often desired him to take a stand for 
total abstinence, but he felt that he would be signing 
away his liberty if he appended his name to the tem- 
perance pledge. Six weeks ago he gave his heart to 
Jesus, and has experienced a happiness that he had 
never known before. He thanked God for that 
undertow of temperance, which had borne him along 
until it landed him at the foot of the Cross. If the 
man who signs the pledge does not give his heart to 
God there will be little hope that he will keep it." 



" PREPARATION TO COMMIT SUICIDE. 

At a Murphy gathering in Pennsylvania, Dr. Lees 
said : " He had a curious story to relate. When 
twenty years of age he married an orphan girl sixteen 
years of age on three weeks' acquaintance. He began 
to study medicine, and his family increased of course. 
He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, 
went through the army without drinking, but was 
finally taken sick, and came out of the attack a -per- 
fect slave to morphine. He had an insatiable thirst 
for liquor, which soon ate up his library and all the 
comforts of home. He had made every preparation 
to commit suicide, but a hand stayed him, and he 
went down on his knees and prayed for deliverance. 
Six weeks afterwards he signed the pledge, and now 
he was a sane man again." 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 375 



"THIRTY YEARS OF INTEMPERANCE. 

Mr. John F. Shorey, of Mass., recently said to an 
audience : 

" My friends, it is a joy to stand before you to-day 
— a joy of one of the redeemed — redeemed from the 
lowest degradation of intemperance that it is possible 
for a man to arrive at. Thirty years ago I took my 
first drink of liquor. You may think it singular, but, 
as I remember it, it was on my twenty-first birthday, 
and to morrow is my fifty-first. I remember taking 
it down here in Federal street, in this city, and from 
that time on I continued to drink as a ' moderate 
drinker/ and so on until the appetite became so 
strong that I could not resist it. On that day, when 
the boys think they really are free, on that day I 
sold myself to Satan, and how well I served him you 
may well know when I tell you that for thirty years 
I was a victim to my appetite. It is hardly necessary 
for me to go through with my experience. Thirty- 
one years ago I was a Sabbath School scholar at Tre- 
mont Temple. I want to say that right here, because 
there are so many young men around here who think 
there is no danger of their becoming a drunkard. 
They say that the influence of the Sabbath School, 
the influence of the church, the influence of all 
around them, will keep them from intemperance. 
But I tell you there is no influence that can keep 
you, but the power of God that can save you from 
the evils of intemperance." 



376 THE TRUE PATH. 

" MONEY BROKERS USED TO GET ALL MY CLOTHES." 

The testimony of Mr. Samuel McLain, on a recent 
occasion, at the Philadelphia Tabernacle, was as fol- 
lows : 

" I am thankful to God I am a reformed man, and 
intend to keep so. I have been so low in the world 
that I could take the clothes off my back and give 
them for whiskey. But I would like to see the man 
who would get me to do it now. I have been de- 
spised by a Christian father and mother. I have been 
thrown out on the world homeless. I am as good a 
mechanic as there is in the city of Philadelphia, and 
I worked at my trade before I became a drunkard, 
but through the effects of liquor it has left me in 
Moyamensing Prison and the Eastern Penitentiary. 

" Since I have signed the pledge I have respectable 
friends. When I came into this institution I had 
nothing, but look at me now ; and, thank God, I 
have two or three more suits. The money brokers 
used to get all my clothes, but they don't get them 



"FROM FORTY TO FIFTY GLASSES OF LIQUOR A 
DAY." 

In a Boston meeting, a Mr. Jackson said : 
" It was not an easy thing for a man who had fol- 
lowed a life of intemperance to get up and confess it, 
but the gospel temperance work made men strong. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 377 

He commenced drinking when he was twenty-three 
years old, not because he wanted liquor, but because 
older men invited him to drink, and he continued in 
that course for twenty years. He finally drank all the 
way from forty to fifty glasses of liquor a day, and he 
tried to stop but could not. A year ago last January 
he became convinced he must stop drinking, the plan 
of salvation was not new to him, and after carefully 
considering the matter he asked God to help him. The 
next day he went into a rum saloon, pushed in as it 
were by the Evil One himself, called for liquor, 
poured it out and left the saloon without drinking. 
The same thing occurred the next day. Could that 
have been my own natural strength that prevented 
my drinking that liquor ? No. It was the power of 
God. And since January, 1876, God has kept me 
from drink, and also provided for my temporal 
wants." 



" ONE OF THE WORST OF DRINKING MEN. ■ 

Lately, at a Murphy meeting in Pennsylvania, 
David Warburton said that "he was one of the worst 
of drinking men. He had drank liquor in every 
form, and had been crushed to the lowest condition. 
He had sold his hat, coat and shoes for rum, and, 
through drunkenness had sold the wedding ring given 
him by his wife. He was a disgrace to society, and 
therefore was not fit to speak. He and his wife went 
upon their knees and asked God to be with them and 
to pardon them for their sins. He divided a loaf of 



378 THE TRUE PATH. 

bread with his poor wife ; it was all that they had, 
and it was rum that made them so poor." The 
speaker's appearance was sufficient to satisfy any one 
of his life of dissipation. 



"TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF SLAVERY. 7 ' 

At a Moody Gospel Temperance Meeting, in Bos- 
ton, a Mr. Mclntyre said : tl It is wholly unexpected 
that I am called upon to-day, but if there is any one 
thing that I thank God for more than another, it is that 
He gave me the disposition and willingness when He 
converted me, to stand up whenever I had an oppor- 
tunity to testify to His salvation. It is always a sad 
sight to see a man possessed of ordinary abilities 
stand up before an audience and acknowledge that 
for twenty-five years he has been a slave to rum ; but 
such is the fact. For the first fifteen or seventeen 
years after I commenced drinking — I commenced 
quite young — I was what they call a ' moderate 
drinker;' for the first fifteen or seventeen years I 
thought I could leave off at any time ; but I was mis- 
taken. I found I could not quit it ;, nothing was of 
avail except the power of Grod." 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 379 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

DOWN TO " BUMMER-POISON." 

At a temperance meeting lately, William Murray, 
of Boston, said " he had travelled all the way from the 
fifteen cent sample-room drink to the five cent bum- 
mer-poison, and had been noted for his swollen head, 
red nose and blood-shotten eyes. He had concluded, 
1 If he could not be a light-house he would be a can- 
dle.' Therefore, he had signed the pledge, and he 
was going to do all he could to induce others to follow 
him. Since he had become temperate old friends 
had returned to him and new ones he found in 
abundance." 



"the only true pledge." 

Recently, at a G-ospel Temperance Meeting, Mr. 
Powers, of New York, said " for fifteen years he was 
a drinking man, and his business led him into hotels 
all over the country. He was successful in business, 
but the dark cloud of intemperance had followed him. 
Three weeks ago he experienced a change of heart, 
and every phase of his life was changed thereby. Ho 
had been powerfully tempted during the past three 
weeks, and while dining at a cafe a friend placed a 
goblet of ale before him to drink. On the impulse of 
the moment he seized the goblet and threw it across 
the room, paid his check and left never to enter it 



380 THE TRUE PATH. 

again. He had signed pledges enough to paper the 
Tabernacle, but they were only idle words. The only 
true pledge is the grace of God." 



"NOT TOO MUCH RELIGION." 

Mr. Hall, the active reformer, of Pittsburg, said at 
a Western meeting, li that he had entered, upon a re- 
ligious life,, and hoped to be more religious in the 
future. Some people say there is too much religion 
in this thing. There was a time when he would have 
said the same thing; but it was not so with him now. 
He urged all to give their hearts to Christ, and hoped 
that all who had signed the pledge would do so." 



"A DRUG STORE TIPPLER." 

Mr. 0. S. Bitz, of Mansfield, Ohio, said at a 
gathering: "That he was happy to be there. He 
did not appear before the people as a reformed 
drunkard, but one of those sly chaps — a reformed 
tippler — a man who slips into a drugstore, gets be- 
hind the prescription case, takes his drink, pays his 
ten cents, and slips out again. He had seen gentle- 
men behind those cases take their drink on the sly, 
and the next Sunday he had seen them take up a 
collection in church for the heathen." 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 381 



" SOLD $16,000 WORTH IN ONE DAY." 

Mr. E. L. Menagher, of Gallipolis, Ohio, urged 
upon a meeting the importance of taking the weary 
and the fallen by the hand and rescuing them : "For 
fourteen years he had manufactured whiskey, and 
had sold as high as $16,000 worth, in one day, in 
Pittsburg, but he has given it up, and is now engaged 
in promoting temperance." 



PROMISING BEFORE AN AUDIENCE. 

Mr. George W. Southworth, of Philadelphia, re- 
lated, at a meeting, his experience as a moderate 
drinker: " He had often made resolutions to stop, 
but he always found his appetite stronger than his 
mental promises. He concluded that if he stood up 
before this vast audience and promised never to 
drink again he could keep his resolution, and • so he 
had signed the pledge." 



"A PROFESSIONAL PLEDGE-TAKER." 

Mr. John Carrigan said, at a meeting in Philadel- 
phia : "That he had been a professional pledge- 
taker. His pledges lasted about twenty-four hours, 
and he had made enough resolutions to fill a fashion- 
able lady's Saratoga trunk. All was sunshine at his 
home now, and he hoped all his friends would sign 
the Murphy pledge." 

IT* 



382 THE TRUE PATH. 



"CAME TWO HUNDRED MILES TO BE REDEEMED.'* 

Mr. Holden, at a Boston Tabernacle meeting, said : 
" That he had sought God for years, and at last had 
found him. He tried to drink a glass now and again, 
but he could not control his appetite. He had a 
praying wife, who had prayed for him for fifteen 
years, but now he believed in the efficacy of prayer. 
He came from Canada, 200 miles, to Boston for the 
purpose of seeking the Lord, and for three or four 
days after arriving in the city was wandering about 
from place to place in a drunken condition, and his 
friends unable to find him. When he became sober 
he fell on his knees and asked God to save him from 
his sins. Since that time he had found the peace of 
God in his heart, and now, instead of carrying a flask 
of brandy in his coat pocket, he carried a testament. 
His appetite for liquor had departed, and he made an 
urgent appeal to Christians to extend a kind and 
helping hand to the poor drunkards with whom they 
came in contact. That was the way to help them 
and touch their hearts." 



" SAVED THROUGH A WIFE'S PRAYERS." 

At a great meeting in Wilmington, Delaware, Mr. 
Daniel B. Hall, in a telling and effective speech, 
made reference to his wife, who was present, and pic- 
tured her anguish, tears and sufferings in days that 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 383 

were past, on account of his intemperance : " Through 
her prayers he was saved, and he prayed God that he 
might ever be able to stand fast and uphold the ban- 
ner of Temperance." 



"beaten by one glass of whiskey." 

Mr. John M. Nesbitt, of Pittsburg, at a meeting 
said : " That he had studied law, went into politics, 
became a candidate for Senatorial honors, and was 
beaten by one glass of whiskey. The morning of the 
day of election he was seen turning down a glass of 
whiskey, and the gentleman who saw him voted 
against him, and that vote defeated him. He owns 
considerable stock in the town where he formerly 
lived. He has no money, but he has stock to the 
amount of ten cents in every brick of every saloon in 
the place." 

"COST him $100,000." 

Mr. Eeynolds, at a meeting in the Queen City, 
said : " He was a newly reformed man, and that it 
cost him just $100,000 to learn what he now knows 
for the first time." 



44 RATHER HAVE THE RED IN HIS BUTTON-HOLE." 

Mr. George W. Hotchkiss, of Bay City, Michigan, 
a " red badge" wearer, in addressing a meeting, said : 
41 That he had been told of the questionable character 



384 THE TRUE PATH. 

of his badge. But he preferred to carry the red in 
his button-hole rather than on his nose. He re- 
minded the audience that the principle symbolized by 
the blue ribbon, if persevered in, would keep the 
blue devils out of their brains." 



U A DOLLAR IN HIS POCKET." 

A sailor, Thomas Halliday, at a New England 
meeting, blessed God that, after an inebriate life, 
and one of constant poverty, he could now put on a 
good pair of pants and coat, and have a dollar in his 
pocket. 



"A RICHER MAN. 

Mr. Heveron, a Murphy reformer of Allegheny 
county, said, at a meeting: "That he had been a 
business man ; was a merchant and manufacturer of 
pig iron for many years ; but, through the accursed 
influence of strong drink, he had been overpowered, 
lost his property, his reputation, and his character. 
Yet, he thanked God that, nothwithstanding, he was 
a richer man than ever in his life before, and felt an 
abiding interest in temperance." 



"GASH in tee bank." 

A German, at a Murphy meeting in Pennsylvania, 
although speaking the English language imperfectly, 






GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 385 

earnestly and rapidly said, " I shust vants to tell you 
peoples somethings. Once I drank so mooch lager 
beer I vus blind all the vile. Now I drinks no more 
lager, and I halfe gash in tee bank and gash to gif to 
peoples vot needs some helps." 



THE PRAYER OP FAITH. 

At a meeting in the Moody Tabernacle, a Mr. Morgan 
said, " That for years he had been what was called a 
moderate drinker, though his drinking had cost him 
an excellent situation in Boston. He described how 
he had become interested in the Tabernacle meetings, 
reading of them in the newspapers, and had thus been 
drawn to think seriously of religious matters. After 
awhile he prayed to God for light, and when his 
prayer became the prayer of faith, it was answered. 
His appetite for drink and even for tobacco was taken 
from him, and he felt that he could do nothing but 
shout for joy." 



"THE HAPPIEST TWO MONTHS. 

At a New England Meeting, a Mr. Hart testified 
" to the power of God to keep men from strong drink. 
He was a reformed man, redeemed in the blood of 
Christ. We must look to a higher power than pledges, 
promises and our own will. Two months ago he 
became converted, and they have been the two hap- 
piest months he ever passed. He felt stronger to- 



386 THE TKUE PATH. 

day than when he left off drinking, and concluded by- 
pointing all drunkards to the cross of Christ for 
strength and salvation.'* 



"far happier than for fourteen years/' 

At a Murphy meeting in Pennsylvania, Mr. John 
Martin said, " That he had signed the pledge fourteen 
days ago, and he would say that he was far happier 
than he had been for fourteen years. He thanked 
God that he had been enabled to keep the pledge, 
and by His power he would never touch it or drink 
it so lonoj as he should live." 



41 PLEADED AT THE BAR." 

A Mr. Hughes, of Springfield, Illinois, at a large 
meeting said : " I have never made many speeches, 
but I have often pleaded at the bar. I don't mean a 
legal bar, but I mean the illegal one. I have signed 
the pledge, and I hope you will all pray for me that 
I may make good my resolve." 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 387 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

DR. HENRY A. REYNOLDS. — BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS. 

The following remarks, taken from the lips of 
Dr. Reynolds, who is regarded as the head and front 
of the " Red Ribbon " total abstinence movement, 
are worthy so prominent a leader and worker. They 
have in them the ring of an earnest and faithful re- 
former. The doctor uttered them, not many months 
since, at a meeting of the National Temperance 
Convention. It may be proper to remark here that 
the followers of this Apostle are in thorough accord 
with the Murphy Movement ; are almost identical 
with it in their methods and successes ; and freely 
exchange sympathies, courtesies, and laborers. They 
are perhaps of a little later growth than the Murphy 
uprising, and have no doubt received strength from 
it. Evidently, both are of the same Spirit — that of 
the Lord of Hosts. Dr. Reynolds said : 

AN INHERITED APPETITE. 

" It does not put me out in the least to follow such 
speakers as the Hon. Mr. Raper, Rev. Dr. Miner, Gen. 
Neal Dow,. Mrs. Mary Livermore, Wendell Phillips, 
or any other orator, as I do not make any profession 
to oratory myself. I claim to be one of God's feeblest 
instrumentalities, raised up by his grace, and trying 



6m THE TRUE PATH. 

to do something for him and for those who have suf- 
fered, as I have suffered, through rum. I am one of 
those unfortunate men who have an inherited appe- 
tite for strong drink. I love liquor to-night as well 
as an infant loves milk. 

THE SUFFERING AND COST. 

" The love for intoxicants is as much a part of my 
make-up as my hand, and at the time I left off drink- 
ing I had an experience of twenty years. I have 
suffered from delirium tremens as the result of drink- 
ing intoxicants. It hast cost me three thousand dol- 
lars for what I know about drinking intoxicants ; and 
I considered my life, previous to two years ago, ten 
thousand times worse than thrown away. I have 
walked my father's house night after night, for seven 
nights aDd days, a raving, crazy madman, as the re- 
sult of intoxicating beverages. 

" COULD ALMOST HEAR THEM HISS AT ME." 

" At the time that I was suffering and upon the 
verge of delirium tremens, I was obliged to do some- 
thing I had never done before in order to rid myself 
of this infernal curse. I had drunk my last drink. 
I had broken my bottle. I had sworn off before a 
justice of the peace. I had done everything men or- 
dinarily do to rid themselves of the habit of drink- 
ing, all to no purpose. I had delirium tremens, and 
it would almost seem as though a man who suffered 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 389 

as I during those seven days and nights would never 
touch the infernal stuff again ; but I did, and several 
times afterwards I was on the verge of the delirium 
tremens, so near to them that I could almost look 
over and see them, and hear them hiss and howl at 
me. 

ENTREATED GOD TO SAVE HIM. 

" I was obliged to do something different from 
what I had ever done before in order to rid myself 
of this infernal appetite. I knew but very little 
about the Bible. Drinking men do not read the 
Bible much. But I knew God had promised to assist 
those who asked Him in faith, believing, and I threw 
myself upon my knees, in my office, by my lounge, 
and asked Almighty God to save me, and promised 
Him that if He would save me from such sufferings as 
I had once been through, that, with His assistance, I 
would be true to myself and to Him, and do what I 
could to make others happy. 

SAVED THROUGH THE PRAYERS OF NOBLE WOMEN. 

" At that time a little band of noble women, who 
had caught the inspiration from the West, were pray- 
ing in my native city in a public place. Some of 
these women had been educated in churches where 
they did not believe in woman's praying or talking 
in public. Some of them had suffered very much as 
the result of having drinking husbands and sons. 



390 THE TRUE PATH. 

They had received no assistance from the pulpit, law, 
or press, and were compelled to do something dif- 
ferent from what they had ever done before. So they 
threw themselves upon their knees at the foot of the 
Cross, and asked God to give them relief from their 
long suffering. And I stand here to-night believing 
myself to be a monument of God's grace, saved 
through the prayers of the noble women of America, 
and feel myself to be a beacon light erected upon the 
breakers upon which I have been shipwrecked, to 
warn others off from those shoals and breakers. 

"DOING WHAT I CAN TO MAKE OTHER PEOPLE HAPPY." 

" Since I signed the pledge I have become a happy 
man. I used to be an unhappy man. I didn't want 
to live ; I dragged out a miserable existence. I 
would have cut my throat, or blown out my brains, 
but didn't dare to. Now, I am one of the happiest 
men in the world. Instead of going about the streets 
cursing and swearing, I am going about from Dan to 
Beersheba doing what I can to make other people ■ 
happy, singing c Nearer, my God, to thee,' l Rock of 
Ages,' 'All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name,' and 
looking upon the world as my country, and mankind 
as my countrymen. 

"ENCOURAGEMENT AND SYMPATHY FROM FRANCIS 
MURPHY." 

" And I want to say a word here in reference to 
Mr. Murphy. You may have noticed that we have 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 391 

been very much together. I met with him during 
the first of my experience as a reformed drunkard. 
I received words of encouragement and sympathy 
from him. A reformed man needs kind words and 
sympathy from some one. I believe Mr. Murphy to 
be (I will say it, notwithstanding he is present) one 
pf God's accepted noblemen. I consider it to be a 
privilege and a pleasure to be with him, and to receive 
at the present time his kind words and sympathy. 

" SYMPATHY BETWEEN REFORMED DRUNKARDS." 

" There are a great many people who do not under- 
stand that there is a sympathy between two reformed 
drunkards that cannot exist between a man who has 
drank and a man who has not, A man who has 
never drank don't know how it is himself; two men 
who have, do understand perfectly well, and can 
sympathize with each other. A man who never 
drank would condemn, while we would pity one 
whose appetite is almost beyond human control. 
• Brother Murphy has said that he wishes he could 
blot out his past life. I do not feel so. I would not 
have my past life wiped out if I could ; not that it is 
pleasant to recall, but I have been fitted by suffering 
to sympathise with men who so much need sym- 
pathy, and who have so little." 

" IT IS GOD'S WORK." 

" You have heard, doubtless, of the work which 
has been going on in Massachusetts and Maine. I 



392 THE TRUE PATH. 

claim that it is God's work, and at his feet I lay all 
the glory. Judging from a human standpoint, it is a 
wonderful work, but judging* from a spiritual point 
of view it is not wonderful, because nothing God 
does is wonderful. A minister said to me the other 
day : ' Dr. Reynolds, I have often heard of you, and 
am glad to meet you. I have an offer to make you. 
I have fifty dollars in my pocket that I will give you 
if you will tell me how you do this work.' I told 
him I did not do it, that God did it. I told him that 
I looked upon myself as one of the foolish things of 
this world that had been raised up to confound the 
wise." 

RECLAIMED AND FULL-SOULED CHRISTIANS. 

" I have a sympathy for the drunkard which I can- 
not express or explain. I love him as I love my 
brother ; and as the result of going out and taking 
God for my leader, and acting what I believe to be a 
practical Christian life, I have the honor and privi- 
lege and pleasure of standing here to-night and saying 
to you, that during the past twenty-one months, end- 
ing the tenth of this month, fifty-one thousand men 
have been reclaimed from drunkenness and planted 
upon the rock of total abstinence — looking to G-od 
for assistance to enable them to keep their feet there. 
Hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds are full-souled 
Christians." 

"SAVED BY GOING DOWN TO THEM." 

" They haven't been saved by cuffs, and curses, 
and the cold shoulder, but by the hand of brotherly 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 393 

love and sympathy ; not by standing up here and 
beckoning to them to come up, but by going down to 
them as Christ did, and giving them a hand through 
which an electrical thrill of sympathy went, impreg- 
nating their whole organization, and making them 
feel that they have one friend. And if there is a man 
in God's world who is ready to accept the hand of 
friendship and sympathy and brotherly love, it is the 
poor, unfortunate drunkard. These men must be 
saved by practical Christian work ; by treating them 
as men." 

" COMMENCED AMONG THE HUMBLER CLASSES." 

" ISTow, this reform movement is not very high- 
toned. It is even found fault with because it is 
not high-toned enough. The reason is because 
these high-toned people, so called, won't come down. 
They don't dare to do right. They don't do right. 
If. they did, the reform clubs, instead of being made 
up of middle-class men and humble men, would be 
made up in part of those in higher circles of society, 
who would give it a higher tone ; but something 
keeps them out. But this reform work commenced, 
and has been carried on, as all other reforms, among 
the humbler classes in society." 

HOW CHRIST DID. 

" It was so with Christianity. Christ was the re- 
puted son of a poor man, a carpenter, and was in the 
highways and hedges most of his time. He didn't 



394 THE TRUE PATH. 

stand up in high places and beckon to men to come 
up ; he didn't judge men by their property, or color, 
or nationality, or anything except the principle that 
was in him. He mingled with the most debased 
and vile and unfortunate and wretched, and led them 
along, and walked with them, and saved them by 
kindness and sympathy and brotherly love." 

"about prohibition." 

"A word about prohibition. I come from the 
State of Hon. Neal Dow. I am proud of the State 
of Maine. I never knew what it was to go to the 
polls and vote for anything but prohibition,*drunk or 
sober. I rode up to the door in which the ballot box 
was, got out of my carriage when I was so drunk 
that I could hardly walk, and always voted for pro- 
hibition, and I always intend to so long as God gives 
me the breath of life. And I want to tell you an- 
other thing about prohibition. 

PUBLIC SENTIMENT MUST BE EDUCATED UP TO PRO- 
HIBITION. 

" Prohibition can't succeed until there is a public 
sentiment to back it up. And I want to tell you 
how the public sentiment is being raised in Massachu- 
setts. The public sentiment there is in favor of tem- 
perance ; and it is very much needed to be created 
now, and is being created by the united efforts of 
every class of people. This work is not being done 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 395 

by the women, the Good Templars, the Rechabites, 
the Sons of Temperance, the Methodist Church, the 
Baptist Church, or any other in particular ; but by 
the united efforts of all people whom we can get in- 
terested in it that have any claim whatever upon 
being good people. * 

TOTAL ABSTINENCE ABOVE ALL. 

. "And if I had time I could tell you something 
about my work, but I have not. It takes about aji 
hour and a quarter for me to make a twenty-five 
minutes' speech. But my heart is in the work. I 
have forsaken everything for this work. I went to 
Massachusetts without a second shirt to my back, 
and without one that belonged to me, as the result 
of working for God in lifting up these men. But I 
had rather stand up here to-night $10,000 in debt, 
with my feet planted on total abstinence, than to be 
worth $50,000 and be where I was two years ago. 

THE WAY TO CONQUER. 

" Thanking you for listening so attentively, I want 
every one of you to pray for me that I may be kept. 
He who conquers himself is greater than he who 
conquers a city. I have conquered myself through 
God. Pray for me earnestly, every time, that I may 
lift up those who are suffering from strong drink. 



396 THE TRUE PATH. 



CHAPTER XXXIY. 

ALCOHOL HAS NO MEDICINAL VALUE. 

There are many who hold to the delusion that 
alcohol is indispensable as a medicine. Among them 
are not a few physicians and chemists who have 
never given the subject much thought. But there 
aj*e others, chiefly such as have considered the matter 
fully and intelligently, who are clear and convincing 
in their position that it is useless and unnecessary. 
One of these takes the same arguments adduced in its 
favor as a remedy, and applies them with equal force 
to the proving of it beneficial as a beverage. Another 
shows by the peculiar modus operandi involved in its 
so-called support of the constitution, under a tempo- 
rary failure of the physical powers, that it is not a 
supporter of vitality : that it is simply " a blind ex- 
periment," as Dr. Bostock has said, " upon the vitality 
of the patient ;" that it " supports vitality in precisely 
the same way that a wild hyena would if let loose, 
among a crowd;" that it is inimical to life, and ab- 
solutely hurtful in sickness. 

PHYSICIANS TRAINED TO THE DELUSION. 

Of course, there are those who will say, very sagely, 
that they know it has done thus and so — citing re- 
markable instances of rallying, or of recovery, from 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 397 

its effects. And there are those, too, who will ask, 
as has been queried by another, " Why do physi- 
cians, who are free from the blight of alcohol, pre- 
scribe it in debility, low fevers, small pox, consump- 
tion, etc. ?" The answer is, that they have been 
trained to do so, just as physicians were once trained 
not to allow patients cold water in dangerous diseases, 
in which cold water is now conceded universally to 
be unavoidably needful. 

Alcohol aids the system just as a goad and heavier 
plough gives the faithful ox more of ease and rest. 
The human system frets under it — strives to dispel 
its influence, to rid itself of it ; and always suffers, 
in a greater or less degree, ill effects from its use. 
It is a high condition of stimulation — a species of 
poisoning — that can only save life, if even such is 
the result, where any of the well-known poisons 
would do it with less of jeopardy. 

WHAT DISTINGUISHED MEN SAY. 

But let us refer to a few of the most distinguished 
of medical authorities upon this subject : 

Professor Thomas Sewell, M.D., of Washington, 
savs: 

" Every independent, honest, sober, intelligent 
doctor will tell you that' there is no case in which 
ardent spirit is indispensable, and so long as it is 
used as a medicine, so long shall we have invalids 
and drunkards among us. Only let our profession 
take a decided stand on this point, and intemperance 
18 



398 THE TRUE PATH. 

will soon vanish from our country. The day is not 
far distant when, by universal consent, ardent spirits 
in every form shall be cast out from the sick room as 
its last lurking place, its final stronghold, and this 
without impairing the power of the healing art or 
limiting its resources. When this is effected, and 
not till then, will the cause of universal temperance 
have gained a full triumph. When the light of that 
day arises a whole class of diseases of the body, mind 
and moral constitution is extirpated for ever." 

In the " Medical Gazette," Dr. Carson, of Pennsyl- 
vania, thus writes : 

11 The profession teaches that it is a valuable remedy 
for disease. The graduate passes into the community, 
and in dysentery, typhoid and typhus fevers, cholera, 
and in every phase of real or apparent weakness, pre- 
scribes it for his patient ; and thus not only fostering 
that fierce appetite for alcohol, which ceases only 
with death, but impressing the community with the 
belief that alcoholic drinks are absolutely essential 
to the preservation of health and the cure of disease. 
What can moral suasion do ? What can the Maine 
Law effect in opposition to such a sentiment among 
the masses, founded, sustained, and encouraged by 
the voice of the medical profession ? Is there a 
disease of the heart, the head, the lungs, the liver or 
the kidneys that has not been produced a thousand 
times by alcoholic drinks ? Is there a single one of 
those diseases which demands their use as a remedy ? 
Alcoholic stimulants are not necessary in the treat- 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 399 

merit of any disease. ' Think, gentlemen, of the five 
hundred young physicians being annually sent from 
this city (Philadelphia) to the various States of the 
Union to practice their profession, placing the brandy 
bottle in tens of thousands of the families as a remedy 1 
Who can calculate the mischief that they will pro- 
duce? It were better for mankind that they had 
never been born." 

In the " Medical Journal," of Boston, Dr. Fuller 
thus very pointedly remarks : 

" The use cannot be separated from the abuse, 
either as a beverage or as a medicine. We cannot 
prevent the use of alcohol as a beverage without dis- 
carding its use. I think that the profession cannot 
but perceive that while alcoholic prescriptions are so 
universal, and while it is recommended as a domestic 
medicine, it will continue to be used as a beverage, 
and its lamentable effects will follow." 

The well-known medical writer, and founder of a 
successful medical college in New York, Dr. Trail, 
thus reflects: 

u The effects of intemperance may be summed up 
in a few words — vice, crime, pauperism, social cor- 
ruption and national decline ; and the root of the evil 
is alcoholic medication. It is true now, as it has 
ever been, that just to the extent that medical men 
advise and prescribe alcohol as a medicine will the 
people drink it as a beverage. The use of alcoholic 
drinks always did and always will follow in the wake 
of alcoholic medication." 



400 THE TRUE PATH. 

The " Medical Times," of New York city, an ably 
managed and influential journal, thus appeals to the 
good sense of the medical profession : 

" The alarming extent to which alcoholic stimu- 
lants are being resorted to as a beverage, by the pub- 
lic, should, attract the serious consideration of phy- 
sicians. The opinion is becoming prevalent that 
stimulus is beneficial. The various quacks who 
trump their 'bitters' into the market, are beginning 
to understand this, and have already reaped a golden 
harvest from a very extensive sale of their nostrums." 

On one occasion, said Dr. Blakeman, in narrating 
the instance of a young lady, before the Academy of 
Medicine : 

"In consequence of the prescription of a physician, 
she was led into habits of intemperance to such an 
extent that in the course of eight months she was ac- 
customed to take two and oue-half pints of brandy 
daily. She died a drunkard." 

Professor Benjamin F. Barker, of the New York 
College of Medicine, said : 

" I have known several ladies to become habitual 
drunkards, the primary cause being a taste for stim- 
ulus, which was acquired by alcoholic drinks being 
administered to them as medicine." 

In the " Materia Medica" of Dr. Chapin, the fol- 
lowing words have escaped the editor's pen : 

" It is the sacred duty of every one exercising the 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 401 

profession of medicine, to unite with the moralist, the 
divine, and the economist, in discouraging the con- 
sumption of these baneful articles ; and^as the first 
step in the scheme of reformation, to discountenance 
the baneful notion of their remedial efficacy." 

Before the Academy of Medicine, in New York, 
Professor Post instanced the case of a patient — a 
young man — who was hereditarily predisposed to 
consumption of the lungs. Acting upon the advice 
of a physician, he freely took to the use of alcoholic 
stimulants, became an inebriate, and died of delirium 
tremens. In this we have the peculiar wisdom of a 
class of physicians set before us. Better had he fal- 
len by his pulmonary affection, a thousand fold. 

Dr. Post also employed these words : " Even as a 
medicine alcohol is ' a mocker,' and all the bitters, 
tonics, etc., which men use who would scorn to enter 
a rum shop, are disguised assassins in satan's ser- 
vice." 

Professor Mussey of the State Medical College of 
Ohio, says : 

" I deny that alcoholic spirit is essential to the 
practice of either physic or surgery. So long as it re- 
v tains a place among sick patients, so long will these 
be drunkards.' 5 

The venerable Dr. Porter, of Portland City, Maine, 

after an experience of sixty years in his profession, 

declared as follows : 

18* 



402 THE TRUE PATH. 

" I exceedingly regret the exception (in favor of 
ardent spirit as a medicine) in the constitutions of 
temperance societies." 

Professor Emlen, of the Philadelphia Medical Col- 
lege, uttered these words : 

11 All the use of ardent spirits is an abuse. They 
are mischievous under all circumstances." 

Dr. Johnson, curtly said of alcohol: 
" I have known it to do much harm, and never any 
good." 

THE MEDICAL FRATERNITY NOT INNOCENT. 

Facts and names might here be given ad infinitum, 
did our space warrant, or any further evidence than 
we have adduced seem necessary. It is unmistaka- 
ble that the medical fraternity has not been innocent 
of the destruction of both bodies and souls in thus 
playing with what is as dangerous, in the sick room 
as fire. It has a mission to fulfil in the great work 
of reform, of an all important kind. If it will but 
set its face firmly against stimulants, they will soon 
decline from the tinctures, extracts, and nostrums of 
the drug-store and quackery ; and many shining 
lights in its own calling will thus be preserved to 
ennoble its character, and aid in the mitigation of 
physical suffering among the people. 

HOW TO SUCCEED MORE SPEEDILY. 

If the work of reform is ever to succeed — as surely 
it will — it will do so much more speedily, if the great 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 403 

and heaven-inspired professions of the ministry and 
medicine will consistently and zealously wield their 
power on the side of Truth and Temperance. 

TWO MORE WITNESSES. 

In concluding these reflections, we will advert to 
two more testimonies of importance touching our 
subject : 

E. A. Law, Esq., a gentleman who has been promi- 
nent and active in the work of temperance among 
boys and girls, thus writes : 

" Everywhere- 1 find, alcoholic medication the chief 
obstacle in my pathway. Everywhere the medical 
profession is the stronghold of intemperance. The 
people are everywhere indoctrinated with the ' re- 
spiratory food' and 'vital supporter' fallacies, and 
the practice of physicians keeps up the clamor. 

Professor McCullough, of Dumfries, in the World's 
Temperance Convention, as early as 1862, uttered 
this sentence of wisdom : 

" The last and strongest fortress the temperance 
army will have to conquer will be the Medical Pro- 
fession." 

To the great healing profession, we say, ' heal 
thyself. 7 



404 THE TRUE PATH. 

CHAPTEE XXXV. 

ALCOHOL IN THE LIGHT OF SCIENCE. 

As this work has the purpose, in its preparation, 
of doing good, we deem it advisable to show the real 
character of spirituous and malt liquors. For it is 
clear that very few persons, comparatively, have any 
fair knowledge of the general nature and effects, 
physiologically, of alcohol upon the " human form 
divine," otherwise they would disdain to use it, much 
less become its miserable slaves. We will, as briefly 
as possible, present it, as authoritatively furnished us 
in the light of science : 

" By its chemical composition ethylic alcohol would 
take a certain place as a food, because it is repre- 
sented by the symbols C2 H6 0, which show that it 
possesses carbon or heat-giving properties ; but whilst 
at one time it was considered a food, and was subse- 
quently declared to be utterly useless in the human 
economy — being eliminated comparatively unchanged 
it is now generally conceded that it is ' food ' of a sort, 
but working rather more injury than good in the 
human system. If we take two men of equal vitality, 
and give one alcohol and keep all food from the 
other, it is probable that the one who has the alcohol 
will live the longest ; but we know now if human 
beings are supplied with suitable food, those who take 
the least alcohol will cceteris paribus, live the longest. 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 405 

So far, we have used the term i alcohol ' in a general 
way ; but pure alcohol is only known in the chemist's 
laboratory. It has so great an affinity for water that 
it is only by the greatest care that the chemist can 
obtain it absolutely pure. He must distil it over and 
over again, and absorb the water with caustic potash 
before he can obtain the liquid he wants. 

" Now this liquid is absolute poison — if we can 
conceive it possible that any one would drink it. 
So energetically does it absorb water that, taken into 
the system, it would dry up the tissues and destroy 
life. Suffice it to say that, while alcoholic drinks to 
a certain extent act as stimulants, it is known that 
they are really depressants and narcotics. As ordi- 
narily imbibed, they act for a time as stimulants so 
called. They accelerate the motions of the heart and 
excite the nerves ; they cause a feeling of genial 
warmth at the surface ; but the internal heat is de- 
creased, and when administered in large doses the 
temperature goes down so quickly and to such an 
extent that it is readily detected by the aid of a ther- 
mometer. As bodily heat, especially in this climate, 
is synonymous with vitality, it will be readily under- 
stood that anything which reduces it, without furnish- 
ing the requisite material for the reaction, must of 
necessity be useless as an article of food." 

"is it strange?" 

Before these facts, is it strange at all that all liquors, 
rnalt or spirituous, blunt and debase the faculties of 



406 THE TRUE PATH. 

soul and body? Is it any wonder that the most 
eminent and wisest physicians^ chemists and scien- 
tists have always deplored its use ? And is it 
singular that ministers, lecturers and essayists have 
always felt that it was a subject worthy public ex- 
posure ? 

WHAT LAMB SAID OF IT. 

The great Charles Lamb, one of the most charm- 
ing writene in our language, has cried out from his 
whole being, " The waters have gone over me. But 
out of the black depths, could I be heard, I would 
cry out to all those who have but set foot in the 
perilous flood. Could the youth, to whom the flavor 
of his first wine is delicious as the opening scenes of 
life, or the entering upon some newly-discovered 
paradise, look into my desolation, and be made to 
understand what a dreary thing it is when a man 
shall feel himself going down a precipice with open 
eyes and a passive will ; to see his destruction, and 
have no power to stop it, and yet to feel it all the 
way emanating from himself; to perceive all good- 
ness emptied out of him, and yet not to be able to 
forget a time when it was otherwise ; to hear about 
the piteous spectacle of his own self-ruin; could he 
see my fevered eye, feverish with last night's drink- 
ing, and feverishly looking forward for this night's 
repetition of the folly ; could he feel the death, out 
of which I cry hourly with feebler outcry to be de- 
livered, it were enough to make him dash the spark- 
ling beverage to the earth in all the pride of its 
mantling! temptiaton. " 



GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 407 

AN APPEAL. 

Under such statements can we do less that call 
upon the people everywhere, young and old, male 
and female, to put their shoulders to the great wheels 
of the Gospel Movement wherever it shall appear ; to 
encourage it by word and act ; and to extend senti- 
ments and deeds of encouragement to those who have 
just escaped the powerful grasp of the miserable 
Demon, whose hands and lips are red with the best 
blood our nation has ever produced ? 

Let the pulpit and rostrum, the capitalist and 
laborer, all ranks and conditions, at least, upon this 
question, stand together in behalf of a common hu- 
manity. Let all remember that, when the sin and 
curse of rum is washed away, the clouds of pauper- 
ism and crime will break from over us, and let in the 
full light and beauty of peace, prosperity, happiness 
and righteousness. 

CLOSING WORDS TO THE REFORMED MEN. 

To the men who have signed, we say, be steadfast! 
Yes, men, be steadfast ! Remember that you stand 
pledged to lives of sobriety and manliness. Allow 
no temptation so much as a moment's consideration. 
Your arch-enemy is wily — yea, the insinuating Devil 
himself. Give him the finger and he will instantly 
seize your hand. You cannot risk his company an 
hour or a moment, with any more impunity than you 
can a year. When the appetite appears, throttle it. 
Down, on your knees ! You have not strength 
enough ; but God has. Ask Him, and He will give 



408 THE TRUE PATH. 

you victory so that like David, you shall never lose 
a battle. Ask Him, and He will give you more 
freely than even you can receive. 

Under no circumstances, stand in your own strength ! 
Even God, who teaches temperance and truth, in all 
things, may turn from you and smite you, as He did 
Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, if you imagine that in 
the strength of your own will, you are some great 
one. Be humble ! Trust Jehovah ! Solomon said ^ 
that a lofty spirit in man preceded a fall, and we 
have ever so found it. Those who most think they 
stand, always are surest and quickest to fall. Be de- 
pendent, then ! Call upon God's Holy Spirit ! Pray 
daily, and He will keep your feet. 

Is the precious boon of freedom, of soberness, of 
respectability, and temporal and eternal happiness, 
not worth so slight and transient a struggle ? 

Keep before you, also, your obligation 1 It was of 
your own volition. You had tried the venomous 
thing in the glass, and found it stung you. It would 
have done so again, and again, until you had died in 
the delirium or disease emanating from its fangs. 
Thank God, you escaped with your life ! You tried, 
we say, and escaped. Of your option, you chose 
Temperance. Let it be this, then, forever. Be 
courageous, be true. And if all others go down in 
the conflict, and are faithless, stand firm and invin- 
cible in the power of the Almighty, and He will put 
upon your brow a wreath that archangels and sera- 
phims will honor. 



